Bailey Hall

Bailey Hall is a house, subsequently used as a school and now as offices, located on the north side of Queen's Road in Hertford. The building dates to the early 18th century, with 19th-century extensions to the right (east).

The principal front (south) is rendered in grey brick with red dressings. The flanks are constructed in red brick with grey quoins, and the rear (north) elevation features red brick with grey quoins to the central bays and grey pilasters with red quoins. All brickwork is laid in Flemish bond. The old tiled roofs are concealed by tall parapets with recessed panels and moulded stone copings. Late 19th-century chimneystack rebuilds are in red brick with moulded stone bands and copings, topped with multiple orange clay pots.

The house is arranged on a double-depth plan with a central entrance, through hall and staircase at ground floor, four principal rooms on each of the three upper floors, and service rooms in the basement.

The exterior presents three storeys across five bays on the principal elevations. The south front is subdivided 1:3:1 by colossal red brick Tuscan pilasters with moulded Portland stone bases and caps, supporting carved brick triglyphs and a carved and moulded brick cornice. Five nearly flush-set sash windows appear on each floor, with moulded architraves. On the first and second floors, the upper sashes contain four panes above two panes, while the lower sashes are plain glazed; ground-floor windows are tall sashes with 18 panes. All windows have red rubbed brick flat arches and quoins, with moulded cornice heads above those on the ground and first floors. Shallow two-course red apron bands sit below sills on the first and second floors.

The central doorway rises above three Portland stone steps with a 19th-century scrolled iron railing. A six-panel flush door sits recessed beneath a sunburst-traceried Adam-style fanlight within a fielded panel reveal. This door is a late 18th-century replacement; the original is reported to be now installed at No. 25 West Street. The doorcase features fluted Corinthian pilasters supporting a modillioned cornice and segmental pediment.

A narrow single-bay late 19th-century extension extends to the right (east) in yellow-grey brick with pale orange dressings. It rises three storeys and features a hipped Welsh slated roof with a two-storey canted bay window containing plain glazed sashes. A flat-roofed single-storey extension adjoins at the far right in yellow brick with red dressings.

The rear (north) elevation contains five bays with a shallow break forward at the centre three bays. It is articulated by colossal pilasters in grey brick with red quoins and a triglyph cornice matching the south front's detail, with red brick parapet ends to the central projection. The first floor has five windows with semicircular arched heads containing twelve panes; the second floor has five twelve-pane windows. Moulded brick bands mark the first- and second-floor levels, with the latter arched over the central window. Moulded Portland stone blocks appear where the bands pass through the grey brickwork framing the central projection. The central doorway stands six steps above ground level, accessed by plain wrought-iron railings, with basement windows visible below rubbed red brick arches on either side. A six-panel raised and fielded door sits beneath a blind semicircular fanlight containing two raised and fielded panels, with a rusticated inner surround and voussoir arch. The doorcase has Tuscan Doric columns, entablature, shallow modillioned cornice, and pediment.

The entrance hall extends two bays, with front and back hall divided by attached three-quarter wood Corinthian columns with quarter responds buried in the outer corners. Eight panelled doors feature bold bolection architraves. An elaborate plaster cornice displays foliated modillions, egg-and-dart ornament, and dentils. The columns support an entablature with a soffit bearing raised Greek Key ornament. The main staircase is an open-well design in hardwood with an open string, carved tread brackets, curtail steps, and iron twist-on vase and column-on-vase balusters. A moulded handrail is accompanied by a dado with veneered panelling and marquetry motifs.

The ground-floor through room is a 19th-century creation with partly 18th-century panelling, dentil frieze, and modillion cornice. Architrave surrounds frame windows and panelled shutters. A marble fireplace features a pier glass above with carved swags of oak leaves and acorns. The east-side ground-floor rooms were subdivided when the eastern extensions were constructed, with cornices cut. The front (dining) room contains dentil frieze and bold cyma mouldings, with a black marble fireplace.

The first-floor landing retains 18th-century panelling with a moulded dado rail, bolection-moulded architraves, and eight fielded panelled doors. Two front bedrooms flank a central dressing room over the entrance hall, featuring panelling and wood cornices, with some panelled window seats and shutters. The front and back bedrooms on the west side have interconnecting closets with two raised and fielded panelled doors with H-hinges. The rear bedroom contains a fireplace with an eaved architrave surround and inner 19th-century polished quartzite surround, beneath a heavy double cyma cornice with breaks over windows.

The second floor retains early 18th-century and 17th-century style features of an archaic character. The front west room has panelling, dentil frieze, and crude Ionic pilaster surrounds to windows, with a fireplace featuring a square panelled chimneybreast and a door with two large panels above and below two small square panels. The rear west room displays panelling in an early-to-mid 18th-century style, with a moulded dado containing large panels above and below and a double cyma cornice. The roof structure comprises four low roofs separated by valleys, constructed largely of sawn timbers in strutted purlin construction.

The basement originally contained kitchens with plain flagged and board floors and two brick vaults. A passage, now blocked, is reported to lead to Hertford Castle.

Bailey Hall is documented as a manor house in 1621. The present house was built circa 1700, though it may incorporate features such as attic panelling from an earlier structure. In 1721, it was occupied by Edward Blackmore, who served as Mayor of Hertford in 1713. By 1800, it was the residence of Henry Allingham, County Coroner and Under Sheriff, who sold it in 1845. The exterior remained largely unaltered except for the removal of a large segmental pediment over the middle three bays. In 1900, the house was purchased for use as the residence of the Headmaster of Hertford School, and the eastern extension and a later classroom were built. The building is now used for County Council offices.