Sheringham Hall

Sheringham Hall is a country house built between 1812 and 1819, completed in 1839, designed by H. & J. A. Repton for Abbot Upcher, who died in 1819. The house is constructed of gault brick with a shallow pitched slate roof behind a parapet.

The principal facade faces south and comprises 5 bays over 2 storeys. The centre 3 bays are recessed with a colonnade to the front featuring 6 Roman Doric columns, grouped 1:2:2:1 and in antis, supporting an entablature. The facade has a stone plinth, platband, and moulded stone parapet to the roof. Large sashes with glazing bars sit under flat skewback arches, with the 3 windows behind the colonnade having reeded cases; the central window reaches to the ground and has lower panels of wood. Bow windows to the ground floor at bays 1 and 5 are positioned under leaded half domes to brick relieving arches. These have 5 tall lights with casements and horizontal glazing bars in reeded frames, with small lights above and tall lights below transoms having truncated corners. These bay windows may date from 1839 but follow designs illustrated by H. Repton in his 1816 Red Book. Bays 1 and 5 have projecting bays with hipped roofs.

The western entrance front comprises 3 bays over 2 storeys with facade and windows matching the south front. The centre bay projects forward under a pediment containing the Upcher crest—a unicorn surrounded by 5 ostrich feathers in stone. A projecting porch to the centre bay features 2 pairs of Roman Doric columns supporting a flat entablature, with a wide doorway flanked by square Roman Doric pilasters. The door itself is 4-panelled with a semi-circular fanlight with glazing bars, with narrow single lights with horizontal glazing bars flanking the door and extending upwards to form margin lights.

The east front has 3 bays over 2 storeys. Walls and first floor windows of bays 1 and 3 match the west front, while bays 1 and 3 have 2-light casements with transoms and truncated upper and lower panes. The centre bay projects forward with a cornice to the gable under a pediment formed by an eaves level cornice, behind which a thin shaft is surmounted by classical scrolls. The ground floor has a bow window matching those on the south front, with a 3-light casement to the first floor above under a segmental arch containing a recessed stone panel. A lower 3-storey wing of 2 bays projects to the right, with a double leaved glazed door and reeded doorcase to bay 1, and sashes with glazing bars under skewback arches (2 to first floor of 6 panes, 2 to second floor of 9 panes).

The rear elevation features a central tall sash window to the stair with glazing bars and semi-circular head, and a 6-bay 3-storey forward service wing to the right. A service wing to the west projects from the left-hand side of the west front, with a 3-storey link of one bay connecting to the west front. This wing is 2 storeys over 4 bays, constructed of uncoursed dark knapped flint with gault brick dressings and platband, with gault brick pilaster strips between bays 1 and 2, and 3 and 4. Three blank windows occupy the ground floor, with three 6-paned sashes to the first floor of bays 2 to 4. Bay 1, formerly the brew house and now the boiler house, projects forward under a pyramidal slate roof and has a Diocletian window to the middle of the west and south faces, with 6-paned sashes above and a blank window to the first floor. The walls of the service wings facing the yard to west and north are of red brick.

The house is double depth with service wings to the north and west.

Interior features include ground floor doors of 4 raised and fielded panels with reeded doorcases and patera ornaments to the west bays. The vestibule's wall facing the door contains a central niche flanked by blank arches with doors under entablatures. The room to the left has a plaster ceiling rose and black marble fireplace with duck's nest grate, flanked by double leaved doors. The room to the right has a frieze cornice of roses, plaster ceiling rose, and moulded black marble fireplaces with patera, with a glazed cupboard recess door having margin lights.

The room to the south facing the colonnade contains a classical white marble fireplace with egg and dart mouldings and downward tapering reeded pilasters supporting a frieze of alternating urns and wreaths. The plaster ceiling features a frieze of trailing vine leaves and grapes with an acanthus leaf cornice, and a ceiling rose of Greek acanthus leaves. The wooden covers to the shutters are reeded and curved.

The east room has a large non-classical white marble fireplace, possibly dating from circa 1880, with a moulded surround containing 3 panels of roses and fruit punctuating the frieze. The fire aperture is reduced by a stainless steel surround inlaid with brass. The room has a coved cornice and ceiling rose of Greek acanthus leaves.

A cantilevered curved staircase features stone steps with shaped soffits and an open string with hexagonal cast iron balusters. The wreathed mahogany handrail has ebony and mother of pearl inset above a turned newel. The staircase window has margin lights of etched pale blue glass, with niches in canted corners of the stair wall. The landing has two domed lights to east and west with an acanthus leaf cornice frieze.

The house and park are said to be H. Repton's masterpiece and favourite commission.