Holme Lacy House

Holme Lacy House is a country house dating back to a contract of 1674, with Anthony Deane acting as builder and Hugh May as arbitrator for John, Second Viscount Scudamore. The house was altered in 1828-31 by William Atkinson and again in the early 20th century for Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth. It is constructed of brick with sandstone ashlar and Bath stone dressings, with Welsh and Westmoreland slate hipped roofs. The building has an H-shaped plan, comprising a main 13-bay front and a north wing, extended westward in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with cellars, two storeys and attics.

The east elevation has a 3:7:3 window arrangement with glazing bar sash windows in 19th-century eared architraves, except for three windows on the ground floor of the central part, which have semi-circular heads. A slightly advanced central three-bay section features a gabled pediment containing a cartouche. The projecting wings have pediments above the central ground floor windows. A moulded stone cornice supports a 19th-century balustrade. Two-light casements are present in the attic windows, with early 20th-century stacks. The north elevation presents a 3:4:¾:1:¾:4:3 window arrangement, again with glazing bar sashes, and a large early 19th-century porch with three semi-circular arches, dropped keystones, and a balustrade. A central oak door is within the porch, featuring a round arch and architrave. The south elevation mirrors the east with a slightly advanced gable pediment to the right of centre, also containing a cartouche. The west front incorporates 19th and early 20th-century service wings and outbuildings.

The interior features an early 20th-century entrance hall, extending five bays by three, divided by fluted Corinthian pilasters and oak panelling. The principal ground floor rooms to the south and east retain ornate 17th-century plastered ceilings, although some are now obscured by suspended 20th-century ceilings. The Saloon, on the south front, has the highest ceiling, with a 17th-century section above a 19th-century frieze and cove enriched with cartouches; the lower part of the room is 19th century with a pedimented doorcase. A large early 20th-century oak three-flight double-return staircase rises within. 17th-century panelling remains in the north-west ground floor, the former Dining Room, accompanied by a contemporary fireplace with bolection mouldings. A small room exhibits a wall decorated in a Chinese style with bamboo motifs, potentially dating from the 18th or early 20th century. The roof of the south part retains traces of 17th-century oversailing eaves that were cut back in the 19th century. A 17th-century chimney-piece with an acanthus frieze and plaster bas-reliefs of trees, and a round tower in the over-mantel, are also present. Some of the plaster ceilings were restored in the 19th century by the Italian stuccatore Bernasconi, who favoured a design featuring a daisy-like flower suspended from stems inserted into holes in the ceiling.