Okeover Hall

Okeover Hall

Country house built circa 1745–1749 and 1757–1758 by Joseph Sanderson and Simon File, with substantial rebuilding carried out 1957–1960 by Marshall Sisson. The building is constructed of red brick with ashlar plinth and dressings, and features hipped slate roofs with brick ridge stacks.

The house encloses three sides of a courtyard through an east range of circa 1745–1746, a west range of circa 1747–1749 (largely rebuilt 1957–1960), and a south range of 1957–1960 except for its east end (1757–1758). The design follows the Gibbsian style.

The north front is the principal elevation, presenting a two-storey, seven-bay front with three-storey corner towers at the angles to flanking wings. A central open pedimented break rises above the main cornice with two windows on either side. The front features a first-floor band and moulded eaves cornice to a coped parapet, with corner pilasters to the angle towers and central break. The windows throughout are glazing bar sashes; those on the first floor of the wings are set within recesses with scrolled architraves and stepped voussoirs, with a sill band continued along each return front. Ground-floor windows of the wings have enriched heads. The first-floor windows of the south range central break and corner towers are round-headed (those to the corner towers are blind). Ground-floor windows of the south range, excepting the towers, have round heads and are set within round-arched recesses springing from a continuation of the first-floor band. Each tower has a blind second-floor oculus. A central eight-panelled door with fanlight displaying radiating glazing bars occupies the centre.

The west return of the east wing presents seven bays with glazing bar sashes with raised keys; the two left-hand window bays are blind. A central door with bracketed pediment marks this elevation. The east return of the west wing shows two, three, then two bays, with a projecting centre defined at ground level by quoins of alternating lengths. Glazing bar sashes with raised keys are employed here, with the first two ground-floor windows from the right being blind. Another central door with bracketed pediment is positioned here.

The east front is two storeys with a first-floor band, composed of one, one, and nine bays. The right-hand range dates to 1745–1747 and features glazing bar sashes with raised keys and moulded surrounds; first-floor windows have sill bands. The central three bays are defined by alternating quoins and feature a pedimented break with first-floor windows surmounting recessed balustrades. The pediment contains a central oculus with enriched surround. The left-hand bay forms the south-east pavilion of two storeys with an attic storey above a bold cornice, which breaks to the east in an arched recess containing a first-floor Venetian window. Quoins mark the lower floor while pilasters define the attic storey. A ground-floor angled bay window projects from this pavilion, its central window arched with the lintel string returned as an impost string to the south. The recessed link between the ranges features a ground-floor door.

The interior preserves rich 18th-century plasterwork. The Drawing Room contains plasterwork by Charles Stanley, featuring a coved plaster ceiling with a large roundel containing two mythological figures. An open-well staircase with decorative wrought-iron rail of 1748 by Robert Bakewell of Derby is a notable feature.

The 18th-century work at Okeover was undertaken for Leak Okeover. The rebuilding of the 1950s was carried out for Sir Ian Walker and represents one of the most important country house conversions of that era.