Lutterell Hall

Lutterell Hall

A parish hall built in 1929 to the designs of Alfred John Thraves, located on the corner of Church Drive and Bridgford Road.

The building has an approximately rectangular plan and is constructed in red brick laid in English bond with dressings of red and plum brick and tile-creasing. The roof is covered in plain red clay tiles.

The hall is executed in a distinctive late Arts and Crafts style with one and a half storeys. The roof features sprocketed eaves which sweep down to ground-floor level and are half-hipped at the gable ends with wide eaves overhanging. At the gable end of the principal north elevation, kneelers are formed of tile creasing, as is the tumbling along the verges. A central spire rises from the ridge on a tapered tile-clad base surmounted by a flared roof covered in copper fish-scale tiles. Five wedge dormer windows pierce the roof, positioned wholly within the roof space, with tile-clad sides and two-light casements with leaded lights; five dormers light the long east elevation and three light the west elevation.

The east elevation is divided into seven bays by shallow pilasters, each lit by wide segmental arch windows with brick arches of two rows of headers and tile sills, except for the last bay which is lit by a two-light stone mullion in a blocked surround. The windows are lead imitation uPVC, as are those on the ground floor throughout the building.

The north elevation is dominated by a tall, wide semicircular arch doorway with three orders of brick and an outer ring of tile creasing. The double doors are each divided into four vertical panels by fillets which overlay scrolled strap hinges. The top of the doors are pierced by four narrow glazed panels with decorative leaded lights. The tympanum is clad in hammered metalwork bearing an oval with the figure of St Giles in shallow relief and a frieze with 'PARISH HALL' flanked by lions' heads. A copper plaque records in incised artistic font the date when the foundation stone was laid and the names of those present. Above the doorway, a five-light stone mullion window with blocked jambs lights the council chamber. The stone sill is continued either side by tile creasing which forms a band across the façade. Between the door and window, twelve vertical panels of ridge-tile creasing create a chevron pattern. The door is flanked by single-light windows in blocked stone surrounds with elongated keystones of tile creasing.

Adjoining the right-hand side is a single-storey classroom under a hipped roof with sprocketed eaves, lit by a canted bay with multi-paned windows which rises above the roof line of the main range. The bay is embellished along the eaves by bands of tile creasing and vertical brick laid on edge. The right return is lit by two two-light casements with flat brick arches and tile sills. A projecting chimney breast with a particularly tall stack is positioned between them. On the west elevation of the main hall is a recessed entrance under a segmental brick arch with a replaced door, followed by a large six-light window and then a single-storey flat-roofed extension added sometime later in the twentieth century to provide kitchen facilities.

The interior survives near to its original condition with decorative plasterwork and joinery of oak and Columbian pine, although some doors have been replaced. The front door opens into a small porch with applied timber studs and rails to the walls and a tiled floor. This leads through double doors of vertical panels with fillets and corner blocks to the crush hall, which is similar to the porch except the studs are also braced. On either side are lavatories which have been modernised but retain pairs of moulded door surrounds.

The main hall is a large space with a barrel vaulted ceiling, each bay defined by parallel bands of plasterwork in a foliate design edged by cable moulding. The side aisles are embellished by a similar band of plasterwork and are supported by square columns. Ventilation panels along the ceiling are covered in latticework and framed by plasterwork with an acanthus leaf and grape design. The low stage at the far end has a square panelled front and a pierced band of geometric design above. The moulded dado rail, cast-iron radiators, plain skirting and narrow floorboards all remain, as does a small cloakroom with coat pegs at the north end.

Three wide segmental arch openings on the west side of the hall lead into what is labelled on the original plan as the kitchen but is now used as a bar area. Beyond this to the south is the new kitchen extension. A third opening leads through a door, flanked by windows with leaded lights, to the anteroom of the classroom. This has a canted ceiling with braced tie beams and a latticed ventilation panel with decorative plasterwork border. A plain wooden fireplace bears a brass memorial plaque to Jenny Hargreaves, the wife of the rector, who died in 1925; the grate may survive but has been boarded over.

A closed-well stair between the crush hall and main hall has a moulded wall-mounted handrail and a grid banister with a square moulded newel post and urn finial. It leads up to the council chamber which has an inserted ceiling and five internal windows with leaded lights overlooking the hall.