Julians

Julians is a country house at Rushden, originally built around 1605 for W. Stone. It was refronted and remodelled around 1710 for A. Meetkerke, altered in the early 19th century, and again refronted, remodelled and extended between 1937 and 1939 for Colonel R. Cooper. The building is constructed of red brick, largely cement rendered, with Portland stone dressings and a tiled roof.

The main front elevation is in Neo-Georgian style, presenting two storeys with attics. The composition is 2:3:2, with a centre section breaking forward. A plinth and angle quoins run around the building. The central entrance features paired 8-panelled doors within an Ionic pedimented doorcase. The windows are early 18th-century sashes with thick glazing bars in reveals, fitted with 20th-century architraves. The first floor centre window has 9 panes with a lugged architrave and scrolled jambs. A central pediment above displays the Meetkerke arms in a cartouche with putti and swags. A cornice with coped parapet runs above the outer bays. The roof is hipped to the front with two 2-light segmental-headed dormers at each end. A central valley contains the main stack and a tall 20th-century clock turret with round-arched openings to an octagonal belfry, topped with a copper ogee head and weathervane.

The left end shows projecting stonework at an angle with evidence of 18th-century refronting in an earlier section of wall marked by two offsets. A secondary 2-storey, 4-bay entrance elevation projects further, featuring a large door with integral semi-circular fanlight in a rendered surround, with scattered casements and a sash nearby and moulded eaves. The right end comprises 3 bays with glazing bar sashes and a central entrance containing a half-glazed door in reveal with an early 18th-century pseudo-Ionic pedimented timber doorcase, relocated from the front.

Attached to the rear and extending right is a 20th-century 5-bay single-storey music room with tall 18-pane architraved sashes, a parapet to the hipped roof, central round-headed windows in both ends, and an extruded stack to the rear.

The rear elevation is largely 18th-century red brick, three storeys high. To the left, 3 bays project slightly, with a ground floor entrance and an early 19th-century canted bay to the right. The first floor contains a large round-headed staircase sash with gauged brick head and two sashes with gauged brick flat-arched heads. A plat band separates the second floor, which has three 2-light small-pane casements beneath a coped parapet. To the right, fenestration is irregular with a stack at an angle.

Attached to the rear left is a lower 1 and 2-storey kitchen range, square on plan with a hipped roof. It features segmental-headed 2 and 3-light casements and a sash, with ridge stacks and a passageway through to the rear. An external stack with offsets marks the left end, which has an entrance. The right end and garden front is single-storey, with an entrance featuring a leaded semi-circular fanlight, scattered casements, a horizontal sliding sash, and dentilled brick eaves. A 2-light dormer with moulded flat head is also present.

Internally, the house contains an early 18th-century dog-leg staircase with barley twist and fluted colonnette balusters arranged 2 to 1, fluted colonnette newels, open string with cheek pieces, moulded ramped handrail, and dado panelling. An early 18th-century dog-leg secondary staircase features slightly bulbous balusters, closed string, and moulded handrail. Late 18th-century panelling and a columnar screen are present in the dining room. The hall is in Neo-Georgian style.

The building was formerly known as Rushden Place.