Apes Hall, Littleport

Apes Hall is a late-Georgian farmhouse, likely dating from around 1830, which incorporates some earlier 18th-century fabric and a later kitchen wing added before 1886.

The building is constructed of brick. The west, north and south elevations are faced in scored render, while the east elevation is built in Gault brick. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate.

The house is two storeys high with hipped roofs and projecting eaves, with chimneys over the north and south bays. The plan is centred on a stair hall with rooms arranged symmetrically either side, and a later kitchen extension to the north.

The principal elevation faces west and is three bays wide with a projecting central bay. It is framed by pilaster suggestions and a frieze in the render. Each bay contains wooden sash windows with glazing bars and horns on both storeys, with surrounds featuring cornices supported by console brackets. At ground floor centre is a late 20th-century Doric porch over a pair of three-panelled doors in a glazed surround. The door surround and ground floor windows retain upper housing for canopies.

The north elevation has a single 6/6 wooden sash window without horns at ground floor. The kitchen wing projects from the east side at one-and-a-half storeys high, constructed in Gault brick with an end-stack and lean-to stores at the north. It faces east with a ground floor doorway and three sash windows.

The east elevation is three bays wide in irregularly bonded Gault brick with irregular fenestration. There is a canted bay on the ground floor left-hand side and an oriel on the right-hand side at first floor. Ground floor windows consist of two tall 9/9 sashes, one 6/6 without horns, and a doorway in a Gothic four-centred archway. At first floor are one 6/6 sash with horns, another with margin lights, and a small 3/3 window. A single 3/6 sash appears at attic height.

The south elevation has two 6/6 sash windows without horns at ground level and a smaller 4/8 sash at first floor.

The interior plan form has been little-altered since the mid-19th century. Historic fixtures survive including skirtings, dados, cornices, ceiling roses, picture rails, reeded four-panelled doors and window shutters. While principal room fireplaces have generally been replaced, original grates and surrounds survive in the attic rooms.

At the centre of the plan is a large stair hall leading into the principal domestic spaces. An elliptical arch separates the vestibule from the hall proper. The floor is covered in cement with a contrasting monochrome diamond pattern. The stair has an open string with waved tread ends and two machine-turned balusters per tread; it winds once to the landing. The mahogany handrail lands at the curtail step with a monkey tail newel. A secondary stair within a closed compartment is accessed through a round archway on the south side of the hall.

The roof structure is original, consisting of an unusual knee-braced king post truss formed from hand-sawn pine with iron pegs and straps.

The cellars are built of brick with brick floors showing differing construction phases. Some rooms have brickwork with diagonal skintling marks indicating an 18th-century phase, while others have horizontal skintling marks and are likely later. A second set of cellars accessed from the kitchen wing has cement floors and rendered walls.

The kitchen wing at ground floor has a quarry tiled floor and later 20th-century joinery. The attic storey of this wing may originally have provided storage and accommodation for domestic or agricultural staff. It is divided into small rooms with plank-and-batten doors.