Hare Street House

Hare Street House is a large house with a complex history, dating back to the 16th or early 17th century with a northern wing. A kitchen wing was added to the northeast, and the main double-pile house was probably built in the later 17th century, likely between 1673 and 1676 for William Brand. The brick facade on the west front was added in the early to mid-18th century, potentially for the Houblon family or William Benn, Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1739 and Lord Mayor of London in 1747. Internal alterations were undertaken between 1904 and 1914 for Robert Hugh Benson, followed by restoration work in 1962 for Cardinal Godfrey.

The house is constructed with a timber frame, plastered and with panelled pargetting, a red brick front, and has an old red tile roof with gabled rear wings to the northeast. It faces west and is set back behind a high wall. A notable feature is the fine 17th-century red brick chimneys with moulded caps and bases, arranged in groups of two and three on the northern range. The symmetrical west front is five windows wide, featuring a plinth, floor band, moulded cornice, and a parapet concealing three hipped dormers. The windows are sash windows with 6/6 panes, and a flat gauged arch fronts the doorway, which is framed by a Roman Doric pilaster.

Inside, the northern wing contains two Tudor arched fireplaces on the first floor. A 18th-century boxed sash window with thick ovolo moulded glazing bars is found at the south end of the first floor, with double-hung shutters in a box below the sill and a moulded dado. A panelled staircase at the rear features carvings and wood sculptures by Gabriel Pippit. The roofs are generally of the butt-purlin style, but the northern range has clasped purlin roofs. Attached to the northeast is a former two-bay kitchen with an inserted floor, a cambered tie-beam with slots for arched braces, and a clasped purlin roof. The house is historically associated with Robert Hugh Benson, who lived and worked there from 1904 until his death in 1914.