Osborne House

NORTH MYMMS

TL20SE OSBORNE ROAD 77/12/10053 Osborne House 28-APR-00

II

Villa. c.1855-58. Colour-washed render, slate roof, brick chimneys. Plan: Double-pile plan but with taller front range under a hipped roof, and rear rooms under a gently sloping catslide. Former outbuildings attached at right-angles to rear. 2-storey main house, with cellars. Exterior: Symmetrical front has 3 bays of sash windows with rendered architrave surrounds and vermiculated keyblocks. Lower windows have deep stone sills on scroll brackets; upper windows have rendered sills on small consoles with lion's heads. Central 6-panelled door with ornamental metalwork overlight and richly decorated rendered doorcase, comprising shell and dart architrave, tapering pilasters, small cartouches and enriched cornice. 2 shaped stone steps with simple iron railings. Left return has full-height semi-circular bay with banded rustication and tripartite sash windows, the lower opening with central curved French doors having marginal glazing and traceried top and bottom lights. Casement windows to rear range, those to first-floor rear in later flat-roofed semi-dormers. Attached outbuildings to rear are single-storey with pantile roofs. Near block has been enlarged around original connecting passage; middle block, with wooden casements and door, formerly served as brewhouse, coal cellar and henhouse; far block, originally coach house and stable, has been much altered. Interior: Front parlours have coved plaster ceiling cornices and 4-panel doors in moulded architraves, the left parlour also with deep moulded skirtings. Altered fireplaces. Bedrooms above retain original simple wooden fireplace surrounds. Room to rear of left parlour, formerly kitchen, has stone-flagged floor, internal window with octagonal glazing, and inserted C18 wooden fireplace, richly carved in Adam style with figured panels and enriched fluting. Staircase with matchstick balusters and slender turned newels. Roof and cellar contain a few timbers re-used from a timber-framed building. History: Plans on the deeds suggest that the villa was built between 1855 and 1858 to replace an earlier farmhouse, the farm outbuildings demolished at the same time in order to clear space for new lawns. A late example of the classical villa style, finely detailed and with a clear distinction between high-status front rooms and service rooms to rear.

Listing NGR: TL2583402541