Marden Hill House, Service Block And Annexe

Marden Hill House, Service Block and Annexe

A country house now converted into six flats, built between 1790 and 1794 by F. Carter for R. Mackay. The design incorporated fragments of an earlier house built around 1655 for H. North. The building was substantially altered and enhanced between 1818 and 1819 by Sir John Soane for C.G. Thornton, Governor of the Bank of England, and underwent further alterations and extensions in 1866.

The main house is constructed of yellow stock brick with earlier and later red brick used on the service buildings, all with Portland stone dressings. The roof is a stone flag hipped mansard with a leaded central valley; the service buildings have tiled roofs. The architectural style is simple Neo-classical.

The main block is square on plan, measuring 5 by 5 bays, with two storeys, an attic storey, and a basement. The entrance front features a central two-storey tetrastyle Ionic porch added by Soane, which makes use of columns originally intended for New Bank Buildings in Princes Street. Quarter spheres flank the steps leading to a large glazed round arch, behind which further steps rise to the inner entrance with double doors that are two-thirds glazed and topped by a segmental pediment on consoles. The first floor has tripartite windows opening onto a balustraded balcony, with panelled pilaster strips and a blocked cornice. The outer bays contain thin glazing bar sashes recessed beneath gauged brick flat arched heads; basement windows have cambered heads. A moulded stone course runs above the basement, with blind arcading on the ground floor featuring moulded stone impost blocks and a string course at first floor sill level, all continuous around. The attic contains later 19th-century pedimented nine-pane half dormers to the centre and outer bays, breaking the stone coped parapet, with intermediate blind panels and original round-headed dormers behind in the mansard. Stacks, dormers and a lantern occupy the central valley.

The return elevations have rebated corners. The left elevation serves as the garden front and features a large three-bay full-height bow to the centre. Double curved flights of steps originally present at the principal entrance were removed by Soane, replaced by round piers and balustrades with broad handrails. A round arch with arms on the keystone occupies the centre. The ground floor contains 15-pane sashes with shaped brackets to moulded blind boxes and moulded architraves to the bow. Above the bow is a terracotta balustraded parapet. Pedimented half dormers crown this elevation, with the central dormer containing a three-light casement with round head in the centre and moulded frame. Two ridge stacks punctuate this side. The rear elevation is similar to the entrance front but without the impost blocks and string course at first floor sill level. An entrance to the left of centre has steps with curved iron handrails. A panelled door with an eight-pane rectangular fanlight is set within a pilastered doorcase with shaped brackets to a dentilled hood. The right return from the front displays two stacks and scattered sashes; towards the rear is a full-height projecting apsidal water closet.

The interior contains significant alterations by Soane. The entrance hall features a lateral segmental vault with key pattern and ball mouldings, with niches in the quadrant corners. A pair of Corinthian columns in antis flank the staircase, which rises in a single flight that returns in two flights to the landing. A continuous handrail, wreathed at the base and swept in curves without newel posts, is accompanied by an iron balustrade with rosettes in diamonds. Late 18th-century plasterwork extends below an oval lantern. On the ground floor, the dining room contains a segmental arched sideboard recess that is coffered and reeded, with a late 18th-century chimney-piece. The first floor boudoir displays complex vaulting typical of Soane's work: a laterally vaulted bay leading to a segmental cross vault with a central rosette, key pattern and ball moulding, with a further saucer dome flanked by segmental vaults.

A passage link extends to the right from the main block to the service block, which is largely 18th-century in date but incorporates some 17th-century brickwork. The link is two storeys tall with accretions to its front; the service block projects at the end and was refaced around 1800, with a first-floor sash and hipped roof. An extruded stack with offsets marks the inner return. The outer return, facing the stable yard and forming the main elevation of the early 18th-century service block, is irregularly fenestrated. On the ground floor, a four-panelled door towards the left has upper glazing and is set in a rusticated and pilastered timber doorcase that conceals 17th-century jambs. To its left is a paired flush frame 16-pane sash with a small hood; to the right are a five-light casement, a segmental-headed door and a two-light casement. Two further bays to the far right contain a door and 16-pane sash. A plat band marks the first floor, which has sashes and casements, with a cross-axial ridge stack at the original right end. At the right end, the ground floor has a segmental-headed four-light casement, plat band above, and a first-floor 16-pane sash beneath a hipped roof. Within the service courtyard, early red brick to the rear of the passage link features a door, plat band, and a first-floor early leaded cross casement. The rear of the service block has a later projecting tile-hung first floor on iron columns.

A quadrant wall extends from the main block to a late 19th-century Annexe adjoining the service block. The Annexe's gable end faces the rear with a ground-floor four-light bay window and moulded bargeboards. The returns have moulded brick, plat bands, and extruded stacks with paired diagonal shafts.