Ednaston Manor And Attached Walls And Terracing

Ednaston Manor is a small country house built between 1912 and 1919 for W G Player, designed by the renowned architect Edwin Lutyens in the Queen Anne style. It stands as one of Lutyens' most celebrated works, described by his biographer A G S Butler as "perhaps the most perfect country house that Lutyens designed".

The house is constructed in reddish brown Bedfordshire brick laid in Flemish bond with sandstone dressings. It features steeply pitched plain tile hipped roofs with massive central and ridge brick stacks. The building rises to two storeys with attics, supplemented by single storey angle pavilions, and is laid out on an H-plan with a broad centre section running west to east.

The west elevation, which faces the entrance courtyard, contains five unequal bays divided by giant pilasters with slightly projecting entasis and capitals decorated with wreath motifs. The central two bays are crowned by a triangular pediment. A white painted coved eaves cornice runs across the facade. The central doorway is framed by a lugged architrave and heavy swan neck pediment enclosing the Player family armorial trophy, with glazed double doors. On either side are two windows, those on the outer bays featuring brick voussoirs and key blocks, while the inner windows are narrower. Similar fenestration appears on the floor above. The blind end bays are set back with a corresponding break in the roofline. Two small hipped roof dormers sit close to the middle. A stone plinth and band link the ground floor windows and continue as the plinth and coping to the forecourt walls, which form a semi-circular courtyard with two drive entrances and a central entrance aligned with the main door.

The south elevation presents eight bays, the outer four projecting forward. The stone plinth, band, and coved eaves cornice continue from the west side. A central doorway features Doric pilasters and an open pediment containing a wreath of saffron flowers, with French doors flanked by tall narrow windows under flat arches with brick voussoirs. Additional French doors appear on either side with lugged architraves. Four windows sit above. The outer bays of the recessed central section are marked by giant pilasters with capitals in the form of relief monograms of Player family members. Return walls have pilasters either side of French doors with lugged architraves and apsed alcoves above with aprons. The projecting outer bays contain two large windows to the ground floor and two smaller windows above, each flanked by giant pilasters. To the south west and south east, garden pavilions with hipped roofs and Tuscan Doric columns are linked by walls and gateways, enclosing a raised terrace with formal flower beds and herringbone brick paths.

The east elevation is plainer, presenting five bays in a 1-3-1 arrangement. The plinth, band, and coved cornice continue from the south elevation. Two hipped roof dormers sit between chimney stacks. Below the building, a three-tier terrace with brick retaining walls and stone flagged steps descends to the lower garden level.

The north elevation, displaying nine bays in a 2-5-2 arrangement, presents a more vernacular appearance serving the service end of the house. The centre bays are recessed with twin gables and dormers on either side. A single storey service wing extends to the north east, linked by a covered way to a building containing a potting shed and outhouses.

Internally, the main entrance leads into a small circular inner porch and a modest entrance hall with a black and white marble floor, opening diagonally into the long main hall which extends the entire south side of the centre stroke of the H-plan. This hall features a symmetrical, low, delicate plaster ceiling, panelling, and a broad Italian marble chimney piece with bolection moulding. A small panelled drawing room lies to the south west with a lugged fireplace surround. The dining room to the south east is also panelled with a marble chimney piece. The main staircase hall to the north west offers views back through a series of arches to the entrance hall, featuring a Hopton stone staircase with wrought iron balustrade. Service rooms occupy the north east. A dog leg back staircase with open string and three turned balusters per tread is partly lit by semi-circular borrowed lights with open traceried fanlights.

The first floor contains interconnecting bedrooms with brick fireplaces and built-in cupboards on the west, south, and east sides, with bathrooms on the north side. These rooms are linked by a C-plan corridor with arches and plaster cross vaults. The second floor is lit by dormers and from two internal courts. All guttering and waste pipes are hidden within the walls.

The single storey pavilions at the angles are visually separate. The southern pavilion serves as a garden house, linked by a wall with gateway featuring a lugged architrave. The northern pavilion is a billiard room, built in 1980 as an intended part of Lutyens' original design.