The Elms

Dated 1868, as shown on a plaque, The Elms is a house built in the Florentine Renaissance revival style, with an adjoining service wing to the north and a conservatory to the south. The main range is constructed of gault brick and has a hipped slate roof with stone eaves, and a cornice of coloured tiles. There are two internal stacks, one with a carved stone corbel. The building is three storeys high, with a moulded stone band separating the floors. The six bays of the front elevation feature slightly projecting centre bays. The ground and first floors have ranges of six hung sashes with central glazing bars arranged in segmental headed arches, with narrow stone key blocks and labels above. The third floor has similar, smaller sashes, and the windows on the right-hand side are pelmeted.

A central portico of two bays is constructed of gault brick with Ketton stone dressings, featuring a hipped slate roof with a frieze of marble panels and bosses. Moulded semi-circular headed arches sit on piers with carved stone capitals, and there are pilasters at the corners. A stone balustrade tops the portico. The semi-circular headed doorway has two orders, a moulded label, and carved stops, with detached shafts that have carved capitals and bases. The double doors are upper-glazed with engraved depictions of "Peace" and "Plenty," and have a semi-circular headed fanlight above.

Inside, the hall has a screen of two bays with moulded semi-circular headed arches supported by marble columns with carved foliate capitals and stone bases. The original floral patterned floor tiles remain. The main staircase has two flights and is a closed-string design, with trefoil heads between turned and carved balusters. The ground and first-floor rooms feature frieze bands and central bosses of applied plaster mouldings. The doors are six-panelled, with trefoil cusp tracery in the upper two panels.

A two-storey servants’ wing is located to the left, built of gault brick with a hipped slate roof and moulded brick eaves. The first floor has four hung sashes in flat stone arches, and the ground floor has six hung sashes in cambered arches with labels and moulded sills. The interior of the servants’ wing features a back staircase of six flights with a moulded rail and two turned balusters to each tread.

The adjoining conservatory on the right of the main range has a wood sill on brick, a rectangular plan with curved corners, a hipped roof with a lantern, and a semi-circular headed pediment facing the garden. Wrought iron finials adorn the eaves cornice. The conservatory’s bays each have three unequal glazed lights, with glazing bars to the upper two. Glazed double doors provide entry to the terrace. Stone urns and coping are found on the retaining wall.