Stanstead Hall

House. Built in 1752, as indicated by the date on the rainwater heads, with later low extensions to the west and an early 19th-century circular stair tower with battlements (shown on the 1840 Tithe Map). The main building is constructed of red brick with mellow yellow brick for dressings and the entire front facade, with stone dressings painted white. The roofs are covered in old red tiles. It is a large, tall, three-storey house with a basement, facing south. The house is set back behind railings and a small garden.

The design follows a symmetrical double-fronted, double-pile plan, with a central stair at the rear. Projecting end chimneys mark each range. The roof is concealed by a parapet, with three parallel hipped roofs running from front to back – a mid-wall is carried up to ridge level. Dated rainwater heads are centrally positioned on each sidewall. The symmetrical front has five windows, with a narrow stone band at sill level to the ground floor and a deeper band to the first floor. A mutular cornice sits above the second-floor windows, topped by a brick parapet with stone coping. Recessed sash windows, renewed in the early 19th century with plate glass, are found on the upper floors. Ground-floor windows have 6/6 panes (renewed). Basement windows have been blocked. Red gauged brick flat arches feature above the front windows.

The round-headed recessed doorway is reached by seven moulded stone steps with an outcurving wrought iron handrail and knob standards, leading to a four-panel, half-glazed door with a Rococo fanlight. Deep moulded imposts extend to support an arched architrave with a head keystone. Ionic three-quarter columns flank the doorway and support a full entablature, incorporating a modillion triangular pedimented swelled frieze decorated with carved laurels and fretwork to the soffit.

The interior features enriched cornices, panelling, moulded dados, a trefoil Gothic arch to the stairhall, an 18th-century staircase with a cut string, turned and carved balusters, a moulded rail, a wreath at the foot, twin Tuscan columns as upper newels, and scrolled ends to the stairs. Contemporary fire surrounds are present in the east rooms on the ground and first floors. The crenellated top of the 19th-century tower on the west rises above single-storey red brick extensions with pitched slate roofs. It is considered the finest house on the High Street.