Upton House

Upton House is a country house built in 1695 for Sir Rushout Cullen, Bt., possibly designed by one of the Smiths of Warwick. The building was possibly altered around 1710, with further alterations or additions made in 1735 for William Bumstead. Nineteenth-century additions followed, and the house was substantially remodelled between 1927 and 1929 by Percy Morley Horder for Walter Samuel, second Viscount Bearsted, director of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, philanthropist, art collector and prominent member of the Anglo-Jewish community.

The house is built in ironstone ashlar with grey limestone used for the doorcase, attic storey and most of the parapet. The roofs are stone slate with hipped profiles and stone ridge stacks featuring square shafts, string courses and cornices.

The house is laid out on a double depth plan with a largely symmetrical design comprising two storeys, a basement and an attic storey. The entrance front displays a sixteen-window range arranged in a pattern of 4:1:2:3:2:1:3 bays. The sashes have been renewed throughout and feature thick glazing bars—eighteen-pane on the ground floor and fifteen-pane on the first floor, mostly set within bolection moulded architraves with keystones. The one-bay ranges contain twenty four- and twenty-pane sashes. Leaded two-light roof dormers with moulded cornices are positioned across the front. The centre and two-bay ranges feature a moulded plinth, sill courses stepped up between windows, a moulded string course and cornice. The recessed centre has full-width steps.

The central entrance, probably dating from 1735, features a moulded architrave with a large keystone, Tuscan half-columns and dosserets with triglyphs, and a pediment. The door is a fielded four-panelled type with a panel above. The early eighteenth-century attic storey incorporates a broken segmental pediment with a moulded round arched window featuring a large keystone that breaks into the pediment. Shaped sunk panels occupy the spaces to left and right.

The projecting two-bay ranges have rusticated alternating quoins. Two-light mullioned basement windows are present. Reused lead rainwater heads and pipes dated 1735 bear the initials and coat of arms of William Bumstead. Central segmental pedimented roof dormers are aligned above. The one-bay ranges, largely of 1927–1929 date, contain central roof dormers. Cornices and parapets with balustrading are positioned above each bay. The four-bay range to the left has stone lintels with keystones to all openings. A subsidiary entrance in the third bay features a second lintel and a moulded six-panelled door. The four-bay and three-bay ranges have an unpainted moulded wood eaves cornice and roof dormers. Attached outbuildings to the left comprise a one-storey and attic kitchen wing and a coach house with a gable clock and octagonal lantern. A basement picture gallery is attached on the right.

The garden front displays a 1:2:9:2:1 bay arrangement. Most windows are eighteen-pane sashes with fifteen-pane examples on the first floor. The basement features two-light mullioned windows with hood moulds. The recessed centre contains a tall narrow central entrance dating from 1695 with a grey limestone moulded architrave, panelled pilaster strips, entablature and segmental pediment. Splayed steps with wrought iron balustrades of around 1695 provide access. The projecting two-bay wings have rusticated alternating quoins. The wide one-bay ranges feature broad canted bays with twenty four- and twenty-pane sashes. The lower part dates from the nineteenth century and was raised and remodelled between 1927 and 1929.

Basements have segmental arched windows with keystones. The first floor has small flanking windows. An unpainted moulded wood eaves cornice and roof dormers run throughout. Lead rainwater heads dated 1695 bear the initials of Sir Rushout Cullen.

The interior has been remodelled. The entrance hall contains an open well staircase with reused twisted balusters with leaf bulbs. An early eighteenth-century stone chimney piece features an overmantel with panel, volutes and open pediment. The Dining Room has an early eighteenth-century marble chimney piece with bulging Ionic pilasters. A sixteenth-century moulded four-centred arched doorway is preserved in the basement.