The Folly At Gatley Park

SO 46 NE AYMESTREY LEINTHALL EARLS

1560/3/10000 The Folly at Gatley Park

II

House. 1961-64 by Raymond Erith for Mrs Victor Willis. Extended 1973-76 by Erith. Rubble stone with mixed ashlar and rendered dressings, stone tile domed roof. Elliptical plan on three storeys with small single-storey wings and single-storey extension. Entrance front has curved copper-roofed verandah below string course, with entrance door and window beneath. To sides, ramped parapets to wings with ball finials, inspired by the work of William Kent. Round-headed windows to first floor and square-headed above. Small square windows to staircase and inset in curve of dome. Roof finishes with iron gallery enclosing lead-covered viewing point and stone chimney stack. Garden front has three ground-floor arch-headed openings framed in ashlar with keystones and imposts extended as string course to wings, the central opening a French door. First and second floor windows as entrance door. Interior. Stone-paved entrance hall leads into main room with simple architraves to windows, plain cornice, stone chimneypiece with round-cornered opening and shouldered architrave rising at centre to support cornice. Walls of tongue and groove boarding, covered with original fabric. Roof supported on roughly chamfered beams. Opening without door to writing room and former kitchen, now part of passageway to extension, via lobby cranked on plan. Extension contains ground-floor kitchen (with original timber fixtures transferred), utility room, bedroom and bathroom. Spiral stair with solid timber treads and scarf-jointed solid centre post, walls of painted rubble, rises to two bedrooms each with bathroom, tongue and groove panelling and shutters to windows. Stair rises to roof space, with turned termination to post, where roof timbers are visible. A jeu d'esprit by Erith which brought out his best architectural qualities of historical imagination and economy of means. Although the overall effect is Georgian, the inspiration is eclectic, and the geometric construction of the building as an object in space is purely abstract (related to the lunar cycle). Although small, it could be considered one of Erith's most characteristic and successful works.

Listing NGR: SO4576668703