Newlands Hall

Newlands Hall is a house built around 1884 by the architect George Sherrin, located on Hall Lane in Ingatestone. It is designed in the Arts and Crafts style and represents one of the most complete and unaltered examples of Sherrin's residential work.

The building is constructed of red brick in English bond with tile hanging and mock timber-framing, beneath a clay-tiled roof with prominent chimney stacks. It is arranged in an asymmetrical H-plan facing north, with a substantial west cross-wing and an east cross-wing. A single-storey linking extension in modern materials (circa 1980) connects the main house to a pre-existing outbuilding on the west side.

The north-facing front elevation displays the building's most prominent features. A broad gabled west cross-wing extends from ground floor to roof level, with a distinctive double-arched timber porch at the north-east corner and a single arch on the east return face. The front door within the porch has segment-headed glazing with glazing bars (3 by 3 panes) over a single lower panel, flanked by fixed side lights of 1 by 3 panes. The ground floor of the west wing contains five casement windows with 2 by 4 pane glazing bars, and a corner window of two casements similarly glazed. The first floor above is tile-hung and features a central five-casement window matching the ground floor pattern. The attic level is articulated with mock timber-framing and two fixed casements of 2 by 2 panes. Prominent gabled dormers project from both the east and west roof pitches, accompanied by tall T-sectioned chimney stacks. To the east of this display gable stands a recessed two-storey brick frontage with a six-light mullioned and transomed casement window with glazing bars, the lower three lights of 2 by 3 panes and upper three of 2 by 2 panes. The east cross-wing projects slightly and features tile-hanging on the first floor. Both ground and first floors have canted bay windows of six casements arranged 1–4–1, each casement glazed 2 by 4 panes. Above these bays is a mock timber-framed projecting gable with panelled timber-framing and plaster infill. The modern linking unit on the west end has a small two-light top-hung casement window.

The south-facing garden elevation is more symmetrical in its H-plan arrangement, though the west wing roof continues down to ground floor level as on the front. The ground floor is brick with tile-hanging on the first floor, with projecting end gables of mock timber-framing. The central range displays an eight-light casement window on the first floor with 2 by 4 pane glazing bars, with a tiled verandah below. The verandah is timber-framed with three arched openings (two major and one minor to the west with a closing balustrade). Behind the major arches stands a double-leafed French window with upper glazing of 3 by 4 panes and lower single fielded panels, flanked by double side lights glazed 2 by 4 panes. Both end cross-wings have canted bay windows through ground and first floors with mock framing and six casements (1–4–1), each casement glazed 2 by 4 panes. The gables project prominently with barge boards and apex pendants. The west cross-wing contains two attic casement windows (2 by 2 panes) beneath an extended roof, a first-floor two-casement window below this, and a modern three-light casement window (2 by 3 panes) at ground floor level. Tall chimney stacks rise from the east side of the west cross-wing and behind the east cross-wing gable. Two west-facing dormers project from the west pitch of the west cross-wing.

The east end elevation presents a plain side wall of the east cross-wing with brick at ground floor and tile-hanging above, finished with a moulded cornice. The sides of the bay windows are visible at the north and south ends. A large tall chimney stack emerges through the roof pitch with a reducing shoulder. At the north end, the deeply projecting west cross-wing is seen in profile with the porch return face and an adjacent two-light casement window (2 by 3 panes). Above, a first-floor gabled dormer projects through the roof with a five-casement window (each 2 by 3 panes), timber-framed gable, barge boards and pendants.

The west end elevation shows the side of the cross-wing with a deep roof pitch extending to ground floor. To the north, a first-floor gabled dormer is tile-hung with projecting barge boards and pendants, featuring a four-light casement window (each 2 by 4 panes) with timber studding above to the apex. To the south stands a large first-floor flat-roofed attic dormer with three lights, each 2 by 3 panes. At ground floor level beneath the north dormer is a service door with upper glazing (3 by 3 panes) and lower flush beaded panel, adjacent to which is a three-light casement window (each 2 by 3 panes). The modern twentieth-century rebuilt shed and link passage inset at the east end avoids obscuring an earlier existing window; this block has a three-light casement window (each 2 by 4 panes) on its south face, and an original nineteenth-century window with moulded architrave and three-by-three pane casement on its west gabled end.

The interior remains minimally altered. All original heavily framed panelled doors with raised mouldings survive throughout, as do cyma moulded cornices in the principal rooms. Most fireplaces in these rooms retain their original 'eared' architraves and dentilled cornices. An original wash basin with a black and white marble top remains adjacent to the entrance hall. The principal staircase rises westward behind and parallel to the central front wall, divided from the adjacent central ground floor room by two rectangular piers. The stair features turned balusters and a shaped mahogany handrail, with a square-sectioned newel post. A second service stair is positioned within the west cross-wing adjacent to the main stair, fitted with turned balusters and ball finials to the newel posts. This service stair is top-lit through a skylight and receives borrowed light at first-floor level through a fan-light above an inter-connecting door from the principal stairway. A small service room at first-floor level off the back stair formerly contained a sink and accompanying cupboard. First-floor bedroom fireplaces are smaller but similar in design to those on the ground floor, some featuring terminal scrolls to the overmantel. The east cross-wing south bedroom fireplace is notable for having two mantel shelves separated by turned corner balusters.

George Sherrin built several houses in the vicinity and lived in one himself. Following his success at Ingatestone, he went on to construct houses in London at Cannon Street (1885), Eastcheap, and Carey Street (1888). Of the Ingatestone houses, Newlands Hall is the most complete and unaltered example of Sherrin's work.