Stanford Hall

STANFORD HALL

Country house, now Co-operative College. The original building dates from the early 18th century for the Lewes family, and was substantially rebuilt in 1771–4 by Mr Henderson of Loughborough for Charles Vere Dashwood. The house was altered and extended circa 1892 by W. H. Fletcher, with further major alterations and extensions in the late 1930s by Messrs Allom for Sir Julian Cahn. Mid 20th-century extensions and alterations followed.

The main front is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings, beneath a hipped slate roof topped with a painted balustrade, with six red brick stacks behind. An ashlar entablature with modillion cornice and blocking course runs across the facade. The central three bays slightly project and are topped with a modillion pediment containing a single cartouche. An ashlar plinth runs across the base, with ground and first floor sill bands and a first floor band. The building is two and a half storeys plus cellar, with seven bays. Each ground floor bay apart from the doorway is flanked by single ashlar pilaster strips, forming giant Ionic pilasters over the band. Flanking the central openings above the ground floor are two similar pilasters. The cellar features six pairs of sashes. A central 19th-century porch with Ionic columns and entablature stands before the main entrance. The side walls each contain a single arched opening with decorative iron grille, fluted keystone and impost bands, flanked by single Ionic pilasters. An inner 18th-century painted door surround frames an arched doorway with a 20th-century door, over panel and moulded imposts. Either side of this are single Doric-style columns with fluted capitals, supporting a frieze decorated with a swag and roundels. Flanking the columns are two similar pilasters with modillion cornice. Either side are three sashes with inner casements with two pointed arched lights, each sash set in a moulded early 18th-century ashlar surround with later cornice. The single windows flanking the doorway also have later key pattern friezes. Above is a single central sash in a moulded ashlar surround with fluted frieze, flanked by single decorative brackets supporting a segmental pediment. Either side are two similar sashes with similar surrounds, the fluted frieze flanked by single roundels with pediments over. Beneath each of these three openings is a single recessed blind panel. Further right and left are two similar sashes with similar surrounds to those of the ground floor. Above are seven glazing bar sashes in ashlar surrounds. To the right and left, slightly set back, are two-storey three-bay curved-out quadrant wings. The ground floors are late 18th-century and the first floors 19th-century work. Each has ashlar plinths, ashlar bands broken by ground floor lintels, first floor and first floor sill bands, and cornice. The single central bays slightly project and have single doorways with panelled double doors and decorative overlights. Either side are single sashes. Over the first floor band of each central bay is a single ashlar panel containing a single ashlar swag, with an ashlar pediment over that breaks into the sill of the first floor, a round-arched blind panel above with ashlar keystone and impost bands terminating in single decorative ashlar scrolls. Either side are single sashes. All openings are set into round-arched recessed panels, those on the first floor with keystones. The right-hand wing features a lead grotesque to the first floor. Extending either side of these wings are small sections of wall with ashlar quoins, terminating in single ashlar piers topped with decorative urns. An ashlar wall, balustraded in parts, extends across the whole of this front, broken by the doorways. Further right are 19th and 20th-century wings. Further left is a 19th-century two and a half-storey five-bay wing, and on the far left, set back, stands the theatre of the 1930s.

The garden front features the five-bay 18th-century build with ashlar bands, cornice and blocking course. There is a single central two and a half-storey canted bay with a central doorway containing a glazed double door and overlight flanked by single Ionic columns with entablature and modillion pediment. Above is a single sash with fluted frieze, roundels and segmental pediment. The remaining bays have single sashes with moulded ashlar surrounds, the first floor also with cornices. Projecting to the right and left are 19th-century two-storey four-bay wings with similar bands and cornices. The ground floors have ashlar quoins and the first floors have Ionic ashlar corner pilasters. The central two bays of each wing are topped with an ashlar pediment. The bays have single sashes with similar ashlar surrounds and cornices. Further right and left are various 19th and 20th-century wings, including on the far right the two and a half-storey seven-bay theatre. An ashlar terrace, balustraded in parts with ashlar steps leading off, extends across the whole of this front. The terrace includes ashlar garden seats, decorative piers and urns. At the west end is a 1930s open arcade supported on decorative cement Ionic columns, enclosing on three sides a coloured mosaic floor with a central decorative mosaic pool and fountain, the fourth side being enclosed by the house itself.

The interior was reconstructed in the late 1930s by Messrs Allom and is profusely and richly decorated in various period and modern styles. Most major rooms, including bedrooms, have decorative cornices, panelled dados, and decorative marble and other fireplaces, some with overmantels. Several rooms feature decorative ceilings, with further decoration to the panelling in some cases. Some rooms have decorated and shaped doorcases, while others retain good panelled doors and reveals. The study is panelled with gilt decoration, as are other rooms throughout the house. An open-well staircase features decorative newels and balusters, carved tread ends, and walls further decorated with Ionic pilasters. Lady Cahn's boudoir has a decorated mirrored ceiling and decorative panel over the fireplace. The nursery is panelled with decorative pilasters flanking the windows and larger panels, with a doorway concealed within a false bookcase. The house is reputed to retain a single lavishly decorated marble bathroom. The theatre has coved moulding concealing lights, with coloured decoration in the form of figures and horses. Doors feature decorative gilt cornices and glass panels depicting the signs of the zodiac.

The theatre features a raked auditorium floor with two sets of seats and a central aisle. The orchestra pit contains a central organ which can be raised and lowered during performances. This is a Wurlitzer organ manufactured at their Tonawanda factory and despatched on 20 July 1926 to the Madeleine Theatre in Paris, France. It was subsequently purchased by Sir Julian Cahn for £20,000 and despatched to Stanford on 25 May 1937, where it was modified and enlarged upon installation. The theatre was designed by Cecil Aubrey Masey, a well-known cinema architect, specifically to allow Sir Julian to present magic shows as well as films, as he was president of the Leicester Magic Circle. The walls were decorated with murals by Beatrice MacDermott. The theatre seated 352 people and cost £73,000 to construct.