Garth House

House. Garth House was built in 1729, significantly altered and extended in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly around 1837, 1937-1941, and 1965. It is constructed of colourwashed brick in a Flemish bond on the front elevation, with yellow stock brick in Flemish bond on the sides and rear range. The roof is hipped and covered in Welsh slate, with yellow brick chimneys featuring oversailing courses and tapered square cream terracotta pots.

The original house has a 5-bay (now 3-bay) central front range, with a rear range added around 1857, and a further single bay extension to the rear range in 1937. The front elevation is two storeys high with a basement beneath the front range. It features three segmental-arched window openings, showcasing mullion and transom casements with small panes on both the first and ground floors. A plat band runs across the first floor. The east elevation has a 16-pane sash window beneath a segmental rubbed brick arch on the ground floor, and a triple 4:16:4-pane sash window to the left, alongside a glazed door with a fanlight featuring an open pedimented hood supported by console brackets. The rear (south) elevation is 3 bays wide, with a 1937 single-bay extension to the right. It incorporates 16-pane sash windows on both the ground and first floors, with a glazed door located second from the left. A setback extension was added in 1965 to the left.

The interior has been extensively altered from the original central entrance plan; a staircase includes reset column and vase balusters, and a three-panel door from around 1750. The brickwork of the front elevation confirms the house’s earlier origin.

Historically, the house was occupied by Mrs Gore, the mother of the Camdent Town Group artist Frederick Spencer Gore, in 1904. Spencer Gore (1879-1914) spent summers of 1907-10 in Hertingfordbury, producing paintings of the house and garden and local views. Gore died in Richmond in 1914 and was subsequently buried in St Mary's Churchyard following a funeral held in St Mary’s Church.