Staunton Harold Hall

Staunton Harold Hall is a large hall, largely rebuilt in 1763 for the 5th Earl Ferrers, but incorporating fabric of an earlier Jacobean house altered around 1700 for the 1st Earl. The exterior is constructed around a quadrangle, and is primarily brick with stone dressings.

The principal (east) front is two storeys high with eleven bays, featuring a three-bay ashlar pedimented centrepiece with Tuscan and Ionic engaged columns, separated by a triglyph frieze. A central door is set within a bracketed surround and has a fanlight above. Ground floor windows have straight entablatures, while those on the first floor alternate between triangular and segmental pedimented heads, all with stone architraves. A stone sill course, plinth, quoins and cornice run across the facade. Above this is a balustrade, topped with stone urns, and statues surmount the central pediment. The south front is three storeys high, with projecting wings forming the Lion Court. Each wing has a Palladian window on the ground floor, and a niche containing a statue above. Between the wings, seven bays feature a central doorway and a parapet capped with a leaded lion on an expressed centre, also adorned with urns. The north front is five bays wide and two storeys high, with a balustraded parapet. Window pediments are similar to those on the east front, and the central doorway has a Tuscan doorcase with a segmental niched head. The first-floor central window has an architrave with plain consoles for emphasis.

The interior reveals elements of the earlier building. The "Justice Room," a surviving chamber from the Jacobean house, has been restored and is now used as a chapel, featuring panelling with inset paintings of saints and carved angels in the cornice. Remains of the house dating from around 1700 are also present, notably a cantilevered stone well staircase with a rich wrought iron balustrade, and a ceiling painted in the Venetian style divided into panels. The saloon on the first floor also displays Venetian-style painting to the ceiling within ornate plaster panels, along with a plaster cornice and a moveable fireplace with a blue john inlay. Two adjoining state rooms from the same period contain an ornate fireplace with a circular painting of birds in the overmantel. An example of the 5th Earl's work is particularly evident in the library, a long room on the ground floor of the north range with pedimented bookcases and a plaster cornice. The ground floor drawing room has an ornate plaster panelled ceiling. Throughout the house are numerous fine chimney pieces, doors and doorcases.