Templewood

Templewood is a shooting box constructed in 1938 by John Seely and Paul Paget for the latter’s uncle, Sir Samuel Hoare, Viscount Templewood. It is built of painted brick, originally a warm yellow but now pink, with lead roofs. The building is rectangular in plan, with ranges extending from the west and east faces. The west facade presents seven bays, with a rendered plinth and sash windows featuring glazing bars. A central three-bay portico, supported on four Ionic columns salvaged from the Taylor/Soane Bank of England, features a rendered plinth and a pediment bearing Templewood's coat of arms in high relief. The portico incorporates a central double-leaved door with a semicircular head, featuring blank lower panels and glazed upper panels. Each window of the flanking wings has an apron and a continuous band to sill and head. A plain parapet tops the facade. Corner statues, sculpted in glass-fibre by Edwin Russell around 1965, are positioned on the extreme corners. A shallow stone staircase, flanked by two 18th-century stone sphinxes originally from Nuthall Temple, Nottinghamshire (demolished in 1929), provides access to the entrance. A screen wall with six blind rusticated arches is located to the left of the facade. The south front features a double perron with a stone and timber balustrade, also from Nuthall, leading to a three-bay loggia supported by four Bank of England columns. A single bay is situated on each side, with sash windows extending throughout, and a plain cornice and wrought iron roof balustrade by Bakewell of Derby, also from Nuthall, are present. Two flanking wings project, each with a sash window fitted with louvred shutters in the gable end, along with bands and a plain parapet mirroring the west front. A clerestory, above the central five bays, includes three oculi with radiating glazing bars and a stone festoon above the central opening. A semicircular terrace, backed by a similar balustrade from Nuthall, extends along the west front. The central door is topped with a fanlight featuring two vertical glazing bars, with sashes to either side. Two flanking bays project slightly, each featuring sashes with shutters. A plain cornice and wrought iron balustrade are positioned above the central three bays. A clerestory features a central oculus. A service entrance is accessible from the north. The interior includes a large central saloon with a coved ceiling painted in 1964 depicting the life of Paul Paget by Brian Thomas, surrounded by modest apartments.