The Bell House

THE BELL HOUSE

A house, now part of a school, dating from the 18th century with early 19th-century additions and 20th-century extensions and alterations. The building is constructed of red brick with peg-tiled roofs. It follows a rectangular plan with an original projection to the south elevation, early 19th-century extensions to the east and west ends, and a 20th-century addition to the rear north elevation.

The exterior is of 2 storeys and attics. The east front elevation features a simple parapet and hipped roof to the south. There is a 2-window range with an additional stack and an 18th-century single window range to the north, partly rebuilt in the 20th century. All windows are 20th-century replacements. The ground floor, from south to north, has a segment-headed casement window with glazing bars of 5x4 panes, a principal door with a semicircular fan-light and rendered surround (the door itself early 19th-century with lower flush panels, now with upper glazing of 3x3 panes), and a segment-headed sash window with glazing bars of 3x4 panes. The projecting 19th-century front has a full-width 19th-century verandah with a tented roof and 3 ornamental cast-iron uprights. The first floor, from south to north, displays 2 segment-headed horned sash windows with glazing bars of 4x4 panes and an ornamental bell between them, plus an additional segment-headed casement window of 2x2 panes.

The south elevation features the original block of 5 bays with stacks at each end. The west bay is blank, then 2 bays break forward with a string course and cyma-moulded parapet cornice, both rendered in stucco. 19th-century additions at both ends have simple parapets and hipped peg-tiled roofs. All windows have gauged brick voussoirs in the style of sash windows with glazing bars of 3x4 panes (lower sash top-hung to open outwards). The ground floor has 4 windows in 2 pairs in the 18th-century block. The first floor has 6 windows, as ground floor, plus a single window at each end with stuccoed reveals in the 19th-century additions. 20th-century rebuilding of the 2 east bays of the 18th-century block on the first floor has removed the parapet and stuccoed cornice.

The west rear elevation has a 19th-century addition in front of 18th-century work with lower roof eaves and 20th-century peg tiles, hipped at the south end. The windows are all 20th-century and irregular; the ground floor at the north end is a 20th-century rebuild. The ground floor, from south to north, has 2 casements in the form of sash windows with glazing bars of 3x4 panes, a doorway with a semicircular fan-light and a casement window with glazing bars of 2x3 panes (all 20th-century). The first floor, from south to north, has 3 small windows with gauged brick voussoirs, the outer 2 blind and the central one containing a 20th-century sash window, with an early 20th-century casement window of 2x2 panes at the north end.

The north garden elevation comprises a central block with additions at the east and west ends. The west addition has a lean-to slope (20th-century rebuilt). An 18th-century north addition projects at the east end with a hipped roof, and a 20th-century conservatory stands alongside to the west. The ground floor, from east to west, has a 20th-century casement window in the shape of a sash, a French window with side lights of glazing bars (1x4, 2x4, 1x4 panes), a small fixed window, an 18th or 19th-century door in a moulded doorcase with lower flush panels and now upper glazing of 3x3 panes, a long 20th-century metal casement window of 4 lights, and an 18th-century door with 2 lower panels and 2 large upper glass panes. The first floor, from east to west, has a 20th-century casement in the shape of a sash, a 20th-century sash window with glazing bars of 3x4 panes, 2 similar sash windows, and a 20th-century sash window. The attic of the 18th-century block has 2 similar flat-roofed dormers with casement windows of 2x3 panes and a simple skylight between them.

The interior has been much altered. There is a central small dogleg stair with a shaped handrail and turned shaping on the tops of the newel posts. Two doorways at ground level have semicircular fan-lights, one glazed and one blocked.