Ballingdon Grove

Ballingdon Grove

A substantial country house dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, with significant 19th-century expansion. The building is constructed principally of brick with slated and tiled roofs, arranged in multiple ranges that reflect its building history.

The earliest range faces west and comprises two storeys with an attic. It is built of over-painted brick with a tiled hipped roof and an external stack at the south gable end, rebuilt in Suffolk White brick. The façade features a central panelled timber door with a contemporary door case comprising pilasters supporting a plain moulded architrave and pediment above. The door is flanked by two 20th-century sash windows. The first floor contains three 20th-century sash windows, with a timber modillion cornice and brick parapet above.

A second, two-storey pile to the rear is partly obscured by the mid-19th-century addition but retains its own hipped slate roof. The north elevation contains a 19th-century ground-floor canted bay, above which sits a hornless six-over-six sash window at first-floor level. The attic sash window is of 20th-century date. The rear pile has two early to mid-19th-century hornless eight-over-eight sash windows with glazing bars. The south elevation has been extended slightly at the rear of the stack and contains two blocked windows and a 20th-century attic sash window. Where a former conservatory once stood on the rear pile, a 20th-century patio door has been inserted beneath a flat roof, serving as the main entrance to the flats, with an eight-over-eight hornless sash above it, some lights replaced. A dentilled cornice runs at the eaves.

The large mid-19th-century addition to the rear is constructed in Suffolk White brick with slated hipped roofs, oversailing eaves, and ridge and end stacks. Its principal elevation faces east, overlooking the Cut and the River Stour valley. At the south end is a wing with a double-height canted bay attached to the main range. The ground floor of this bay contains a contemporary French window, while all other ground-floor windows are contemporary full-height six-over-nine sash windows with shallow arched segmented brick heads. First-floor windows throughout are contemporary six-over-six sashes with margin lights, set beneath segmented brick heads. A parallel service range at the north end is cut into the mound and features infilled arches at ground level, with mostly blocked first-floor windows level with the ground-floor windows of the principal elevation. A 20th-century weatherboarded addition sits above. The rear (west) elevation is set back from the earliest phase and displays similar features to the principal elevation.

Interior

The early 18th-century building retains no historic fixtures and fittings, but its simple two-room arrangement is still discernible. Two axial bridging beams survive at first-floor level, featuring slight narrow chamfers with contemporary joists. A fully exposed floor frame survives at second-floor level. In the attic storey, the original purlins, wall plates and end tie beams remain exposed.

The 19th-century addition contains the main feature: a swept, curving staircase with a rounded hardwood handrail and cast-iron balusters terminating in curtail stops, lit by an oval domed skylight with cast-iron glazing bars. Two flats retain original window shutters at ground-floor level. Various doors, joinery and decorative plasterwork cornices survive throughout the building. All fireplaces have been removed except one which was not accessible during inspection.

The extensive cellar has been converted from a nightclub to a flat and retains no historic features.