Elvaston Castle

Elvaston Castle is a country house, now part of a country park, built for the Earls of Harrington. It originated in 1633 and the early 18th century, but underwent major refashioning in Tudor style around 1817 by the architect James Wyatt. Work continued after Wyatt's death, with the east front added between 1830 and 1840, probably designed by L N Cottingham. The building was further altered in the 20th century, including demolition of the north-west wing in 1970.

The structure is constructed in ashlar with stone dressings, except for a 1633 bay on the east of the south front, which is of red brick with stone dressings and flush quoins, and the north-west corner, which has been rendered. The roofs are shallow pitched slate with brick stacks hidden behind embattled parapets topped with ridgeback copings over coved eaves stringcourses. The building rises to three storeys and measures seven bays by nine bays overall.

The seven-bay south front, designed by Wyatt, incorporates one bay of the original 1633 house. It features wide flanking bays and five recessed central bays with an advanced central porch. The porch has a moulded four-centred arched doorcase with carved spandrels and returned hoodmould with carved labelstops. It is flanked by stepped angle buttresses with blind panelling to the upper parts, which rise above the parapets to form small castellated turrets. The porch itself contains a rib-vaulted ceiling and a pointed inner doorcase with double-glazed doors and cusped fanlight.

Either side of the porch are pairs of tall recessed and chamfered cross windows with cusped-headed lights, incised spandrels, and returned hoodmoulds. Five similar but smaller windows appear above, without transoms. The western bay dates to the 19th century and has full-height octagonal turrets to each corner, with cornices at first-floor level, narrow slit windows above, and castellated tops. The ground floor of this bay has a 3-light mullion window. Above is a canted oriel window with a frieze of cusped blind panelling to base and top, a cusped-headed 2-light window to the front with similar single-light windows to the sides, and a lapped stone roof with crocketed corner finials. Higher still is a central 2-light window similar to those in the central bays, flanked by similar blind single-light windows.

The eastern bay, constructed of red brick, features a two-storey canted bay window with an ovolo-moulded 4-light mullion and transomed window to the front and similar single-light windows to the sides, plus a returned hoodmould. A corbelled stone sundial is positioned at the centre of the sill. Above is a similar but taller window with a stone roof carved to simulate tiles, over which is a carved frieze dated 1633 with a returned hoodmould. Above again is a 4-light recessed and ovolo-moulded mullion and transomed window with a dripmould. All 17th-century windows retain leaded lights, and some contain 17th-century glass. The parapets continue upward in stone above the 17th-century gable, and the eastern corner is capped with a 19th-century octagonal stone turret similar to those on the western bay.

The nine-bay east front, probably designed by Cottingham, displays continuous sill stringcourses to the upper floors, stepped corner turrets similar to those on the south front, and three taller central bays advanced from the line. The central bay contains a two-storey canted bay window with plain sashes in moulded surrounds with cusped top corners, and a moulded cornice with panelled frieze above. To either side are four plain sashes in similar surrounds with returned hoodmoulds. Above these are four similar windows flanking the canted bay window, which itself has matching sashes. The canted bay is topped by embattled parapets with a raised central piece decorated with the Harrington crest, above a moulded cornice with ball flowers and corner gargoyles. Above again are nine smaller similar sashes. The central bays have a plain frieze above with three panels carved with heraldic devices, and above that a blind cusped-panelled frieze. Embattled parapets follow, flanked by small castellated turrets and crowned with a stepped central section bearing a rampant lion finial and decorated with a Harrington achievement.

A lower wing is attached to the north side of this elevation, featuring 2-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows with four-centred arched lights and returned hoodmoulds. Similar windows appear on the north and west elevations, except on the rendered part, which has plain recessed and chamfered 17th-century style windows.

The interior retains 17th-century panelling in two eastern rooms on the ground floor. The centre room contains a splendid three-tiered gilded overmantel decorated with strapwork, coats of arms, and painted figures. The Gothick Hall, designed by James Wyatt, features a rib-vaulted ceiling supported by clustered columns with foliage capitals, wall niches with cusped crocketed canopies, traceried doors, wall mirrors, and a large stone fireplace in similar style. The entire room is richly gilded and painted in Gothick style. The main hall, dating to circa 1900, is finished in 18th-century style with pedimented doorcases, a metal balustrade to a cantilevered stone staircase, and a panelled ceiling with central lantern. A south-east room behind the 1633 façade has 18th-century panelling with dado rail and carved cornice. The room above retains 17th-century panelling, with additional 18th-century panelling in other first-floor rooms. The upper south-east room displays ornate plasterwork within the 1633 canted bay window. Above the Gothick Hall is another Gothick-style room. The kitchens in the north-west corner feature a massive medieval-style hooded fireplace and four-centred arched cupboards and doors. Upper rooms have been entirely gutted. Above the main hall, over the lantern, is a late 19th-century cast-iron orchid house with decorative pierced iron trusses and an 18th-century style balustrade with the initial 'H' repeated on each panel.