Old Shenfield Place

Old Shenfield Place is a house, now a residential institution, dating from 1689 with substantial early 18th-century additions and 20th-century extensions. The building is attributed to the architect Robert Hooke. It is constructed of red brick in English and Flemish bond, with some stucco, and has a roof of handmade red clay tiles.

The main block is rectangular, facing southeast, with two external stacks on each side. A single-storey extension to the right and a larger rear extension were under construction at the time of inspection in July 1989. The front elevation has two storeys, cellars, and attics. The ground floor features five 19th-century sash windows of four lights, each with moulded plaster architraves. The first floor mirrors this, with five similar sashes. The cellar has three casement windows with segmental arches. Dormers with moulded pediments provide attic windows, also 20th century. The front elevation is stuccoed and features ashlar detailing, extending around both returns as far as the stacks. A band runs along the first-floor level, and a moulded, modillioned eaves cornice crowns the building. The roof is hipped.

On the right elevation, the first floor has two blocked apertures and repeats the band and eaves cornice. The rear of the rear stack displays an early 18th-century sash window with four-over-four lights on each floor, alongside two similar windows around the corner of the rear elevation. The left elevation has three 19th-century sash windows of four lights and French windows on the ground floor, while the first floor has two six-light sash windows and two blocked apertures. Another dormer with a moulded pediment contains 20th-century casements. It also features a similar eaves cornice. A 20th-century glazed door provides access to an extension on the right.

The rear elevation includes areas of Flemish bond and incorporates the rear wing. The interior of the ground floor retains original or early 18th-century moulded pine panelling, cornices, and bolection-moulded fireplaces. A semi-elliptical arch connects the entrance hall on the right to the rear staircase. The early 18th-century staircase has two flights, with moulded closed strings, twist-turned balusters, and a moulded pine handrail. There are three plain balusters at the top. Original folding shutters and handmade glass are present in the early 18th-century sash windows. One first-floor room at the rear left retains panelling, cornices, and a fireplace similar to those on the ground floor, although now divided by a later partition. The cellar contains chamfered oak stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops and two early doors with altered hinges.

The building was shown as Shenfield Place on Chapman and Andre’s road map of 1777 and was documented as Mr Wheatley's house in J Cary’s Survey of the High Roads from London in 1790.