Scraptoft Hall

Scraptoft Hall

Scraptoft Hall is a country house dating to 1723, though it retains an early 17th-century core. It was converted into apartments in the early 21st century.

The principal west frontage is constructed of ashlared stone, whilst the other elevations are rendered. Stone dressings are used throughout except on the north elevation, where they are concrete. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate.

The hall is square on plan with two rooms on each side of a central hall. A late 19th-century rectangular extension is attached to the south-east corner. A bay window and range formerly shown on the current Ordnance Survey map at the north end of the east side no longer exist.

The building is three storeys with a basement and an early 21st-century attic floor inserted within the shallow hipped roof. The symmetrical five-bay west façade features rusticated quoins and a moulded parapet that curves up at the ends and in the middle. The fenestration consists of early 21st-century nine-over-nine pane sashes to the lower two floors and six-over-six pane sashes to the second floor. The central second-floor window has a rounded arch surround. The windows retain their original bolection moulded surrounds with keystones and large aprons. The basement windows are blocked up. A splayed flight of stone steps leads up to the entrance, which has an early 21st-century eight-panelled door and an original delicate fanlight. The lugged door surround has a broken segmental pediment with scrolls, supported on carved consoles and a keystone bearing the initials 'LW', presumably for Laetitia Wigley. The moulded jambs have been much repaired. The entrance is flanked by Corinthian giant fluted pilasters which end at the first floor, extending upwards to the parapet as narrow moulded pilaster strips.

The rendered south elevation is similar except it lacks a giant order or basement. The aprons may have been replaced. Attached to the front right corner is a late 19th-century single-storey music room with a hipped roof behind a parapet. The fenestration and quoins are in a similar style to the original building. From left to right, there is an elaborate door surround similar to those on the west and south elevations, followed by a canted bay window and then two windows. These are six-over-nine-pane sashes of early 21st-century date, as are all windows in the hall.

The north elevation has three bays with storey bands at first and second-floor level in concrete, as are the quoins and window surrounds, which are similar in style to those on the other elevations except for having cambered tops. The outer bays of the ground floor are lit by nine-over-nine-pane sashes whilst the central window is a narrow six-over-six pane sash. The first floor has a similar arrangement except the windows in the outer bays have twelve-over-twelve-pane sashes. On the second floor the outer bays are lit by six-over-six-pane sashes, whilst the central window has an arched surround.

The lower half of the subsidiary east elevation is obscured by a new detached house built very close to it. The first and second floors have blocked windows with cambered arch surrounds in the outer bays, and there is a long round-arched window in the central bay lighting the stairwell.

Internally, the hall retains very little of its original fixtures, fittings, joinery or plasterwork. The six-panelled doors, skirting boards and cornices are all new, and the conversion into eight apartments has involved the introduction of modern kitchens and bathrooms. The new front door has salvaged 18th-century strap hinges and leads into the central hall, which has a re-laid black and white chequerboard floor and 19th or 20th-century panelling. This panelling rises to two-thirds the height of the wall and consists of short lower and tall upper panels. It has two pilasters, the capitals of which form the springing point for an arch with carved spandrels that spans the hall. The dogleg stair with three balusters per tread is new, but parts of the panelled dado have been retained.

The room to the right of the hall, occupying the south-west corner, has full-height panelling with a short lower and tall upper panel, a dado rail, and an incorporated fireplace surround with a depressed Tudor arch. The panelling is thought to date to the 19th or 20th century, though about a quarter has been replaced during recent restoration and has been painted white. The Conservation Statement of 2007 mentions that this room contains a late 16th or early 17th-century stone fireplace, now blocked, with a later surround. This is not visible and is presumably concealed behind the panelling. The room to the left of the hall, in the north-west corner, has similar panelling with incorporated fireplace surround, about three-quarters of which has been recently replaced. The music room retains a large Arts and Crafts style timber fireplace surround with an arcaded frieze and projecting mantelpiece.