Glebe House

Glebe House

House built in 1907 by Ralph Waldo Bedingfield of Leicester, commissioned by Duncan Henderson, a shoe manufacturer. The building underwent mid-twentieth century alterations but retains substantial original features. It is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings, topped by gabled and hipped Westmorland slate roofs. Prominent side wall and ridge stacks with decorative details characterise the exterior.

The house is designed in an eclectic style, primarily Renaissance Revival. It is two storeys tall with a balanced entrance front arranged as three bays by three bays. Architectural details include coped gables, ornamented lead gutters and brackets. The majority of windows retain their original leaded glazing.

The entrance front features a projecting central gabled porch of two storeys, with a segmental arched portico supported by octagonal columns in antis. Above the porch sits a canted wooden bay window. To the right is a small window followed by a canted bay window of two storeys with segmental-headed cross casements below and mullioned casements above. To the left is a projecting gabled bay containing a canted wooden bay window beneath a hipped canopy, with a canted stone oriel window of three lights positioned cornerwise on the storey above.

The left return elevation displays a substantial side-wall stack with crowstepped shoulders supporting a coped stack set diagonally. Adjacent to this is a projecting bay with a square wooden bay window with flat roof, and above it a three-light casement. Beyond this is a setback bay with a flat-roofed verandah on square posts, covering glazed double doors with skylights. The right return has an L-plan bay window of two storeys with cross-casements on each floor positioned in the return angle with the service wing, and an arched side-wall stack above. To the right is a single-storey projection covering an elongated porch.

The garden front features a central courtyard flanked on the right by a hipped wing with a timber-framed corner stair window. A projecting billiard room extends from this elevation, with a segment-headed mullioned window of four lights and a gabled clerestory roof. The right return of the garden front has a segment-arched French window with sidelights, positioned where a conservatory formerly stood. To the left is a hipped service wing with a canted bay window beneath a conical roof. A coped central stack is flanked by box dormers.

The interior preserves numerous original features. The entrance has a half-glazed door with original patterned stained glass. The entrance hall and stairwell contain a half-glazed inner door and an open-well wooden staircase with square-turned balusters and square newels. A cornice runs along the ground floor, and the stair window features heavy wooden mullions and transoms with patterned stained glass.

The dining room is fitted with a cornice, panelled ceiling and moulded stone fireplace. The morning room and drawing room contain similar cornices and renewed fireplaces. All three rooms have segmental arches to the bay windows. The billiard room features a coved ceiling with panelled lantern roof, incorporating patterned stained glass in the ground floor side window and rooflights. The adjoining card room is separated by a wide opening framed by square wooden Ionic columns beneath a dentillated cornice and a railed balustrade with square piers. The card room contains an original panelled wooden fireplace and overmantel. Both the billiard room and card room have dentillated picture rails and window cornices. Service rooms retain original glazed fitted cupboards and drawers, and the service stair has stick balusters.

First-floor rooms are generally plain, though one rear room retains an original corniced fireplace and overmantel with fitted cupboards. Most rooms throughout the house retain original five-panel doors and door furniture.

Glebe House exemplifies the high-quality housing characteristic of Leicester's middle-class suburbs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.