Letton Hall

Letton Hall is a mansion dating from 1783 to 1789, with significant Victorian alterations. It has been converted into a Christian holiday house, party venue, and conference centre. The building was designed by Sir John Soane. It is constructed primarily of gault brick, with stone dressings and some colour-washed red brick to a service wing, all set beneath slate roofs. The original main block was square in plan with lower service buildings to the west. It now stands three storeys high with a basement.

The main entrance facade was altered considerably in the 19th century with the replacement of the porch and a forward extension to the library. The facade is now three bays wide, featuring a very deep, mainly single-storeyed porch, but supporting a first-floor advancement at the rear. The porch has a pair of unfluted Doric columns in antis, thought to be re-used from Soane’s original segmental porch, along with a full Doric entablature. A semicircular-headed doorway contains a fanlight and a two-leaf panelled door. Above is a tripartite sash window within a classical stone surround with a cornice and central pediment on consoles. A balustrade sits above, with the arch of Soane’s recessed centre bay just visible behind. A Victorian single-storeyed advancement to the east features a semicircular-headed plate glass sash window and a flat roof. Original windows have glazing bars; some are recessed and semicircular at ground and first floor levels, while others are rectangular beneath skewback arches to the upper storey. A plain three-header dentil cornice is topped by a short stone parapet.

The east facade is of five bays, with the central three bays slightly advanced, supporting a pediment and accessed by a flight of steps flanked by balustrades. Semicircular-headed sash windows are present on both ground and first floors, recessed in the central three bays. The ground floor windows have Victorian plate glass, and upper floor windows have skewback arches. A Victorian single-storeyed extension features a large Venetian French window, formerly providing access to a conservatory, and has a Doric entablature.

Service buildings are arranged around a courtyard to the west, with various later changes. The south facade is nearly symmetrical, of two storeys and ten bays. The end bays are gabled to the east only, and the central five bays were originally single-storeyed. Openings in the end bays are set within semicircular heads, containing arches. Semi-circular headed ground-floor windows have glazing bars; upper-floor windows are mainly rectangular with skewback arches, and some are blind.

The interior includes a fine staircase of double apsidal plan with cantilevered stone treads and thin beaded wrought iron balusters with volutes, supporting a swept handrail. A surprising abstract motif of an angled oblong is incorporated into every other baluster. Several rooms retain good plasterwork and some original chimney pieces.