Stonebridge House

Stonebridge House is a large house, built in 1858 and converted into offices around 1959. It was originally commissioned for John Hardy, a local banker. The house is constructed of limestone ashlar with a slate hipped roof. The main building is two storeys high, with a three-storey brick service wing at the rear. The ground floor is characterised by banded rustication and corner pilasters. A deeply bracketed cornice runs around the building, and four ashlar chimney stacks are linked by a stone balustrade.

The west, or entrance front, features a projecting, off-centre ashlar porch with rounded arch entrances on three sides, framed by Doric pilasters and topped with a balustraded parapet. Single plain sash windows are positioned either side of the porch, set within moulded ashlar surrounds that have carved keystones and flat hoods. Above these windows is an altered two-light casement, also flanked by single sashes in similar surrounds.

The south, or garden front, has a central doorway with a converted door and carved keystone. Either side are square bay windows, each with three plain sashes separated by pilasters and a stone balustrade at the top. A slightly projecting central bay has rusticated pilasters supporting an open pediment at the eaves. Below is an ashlar plinth featuring a shield, and a central plain sash window within a moulded ashlar surround, topped with an elaborate carved plaque inscribed “J. H., A. D. 1858”. The flanking sashes are also similar in style.

The east front has three tall plain sash windows on the ground floor, all with moulded ashlar surrounds, carved keystones and flat hoods. Above them are three smaller sash windows, similarly detailed. The three-storey brick service wing to the north has irregular window placement and ashlar dressings. A bracketed cornice runs along the top, with attic windows set within pedimented gables. A single-storey addition from the late 20th century is not of particular note.

The interior includes a stone-lined inner porch with panelled walls and an elaborate carved fireplace featuring a pulvinated frieze and a shell cartouche. A large, top-lit, double-height staircase hall is central to the house, containing a three-flight staircase with square wooden newels and an iron cross-pattern balustrade with a circular fluted newel at the base. The dado to the stair is finished with painted ashlar blocking. Many rooms retain panel doors and frames, some moulded plaster cornices and a few plain white marble fireplaces.

Stonebridge House was built for John Hardy, founder of Hardy & Co. bank. Later, it was purchased in 1931 by Mrs Dorothy Schwind, daughter of a local brewer, Col. Hutchinson. During the Second World War, the house was used as a school, first for Camden High School for Girls and then for Spitalgate School for Boys. In 1951, it was bought by the Kesteven Standing Joint Committee for the Lincolnshire Police.