Houghton Hall South Lodges With Gates, Gate Piers And Walls Attached

Houghton Hall South Lodges, along with their gates, gate piers, and attached walls, are located at the south entrance to Houghton Hall. They were built around 1730, likely designed by William Kent and possibly supervised by architect Thomas Ripley. The lodges are constructed of whitewashed brick and feature slate roofs, with wrought iron gates of exceptional quality.

The lodges are rectangular in shape and two stories tall, with single-story extensions. The carriage drive side has part-glazed doors beneath pentice canopies, while the first floor has hinged sash windows with glazing bars. The buildings have rusticated quoins and gables that are designed as pediments, along with two end gable moulded stacks. Lean-tos on the park side are expressed as half pediments.

The south curtain wall includes a single two-light casement window and a coped parapet. The end piers are panelled and feature stone roundels. The east and west quadrants have coped walls that continue as straight walls with triangular coped piers, which screen the services of the lodges from the village.

The wrought iron gates connect both lodges and include two central carriage gates and two outer pedestrian gates, with fixed railings in between. The gates are divided by four major panel strips topped with cartouche heads, along with four minor panel divisions. The design features a spearhead dog-rail base, opposed curves at dado level, and rich foliage scrollwork pierced by spear heads. The lodges appear in block plans in Isaac Ware's "Plans of Houghton" from 1735 and its 1750 edition.