Queensbrry House

TL 66 SW NEWMARKET HIGH STREET (including EXNING) (South Side) 4/106A Queensberry House

II

MANSION HOUSE. 1898, by Col. R. W. Edis in Queen Anne style. In red brick, laid in English Bond throughout, with plaintiled roofs. 2 storeys with basement and attics: irregular form. The south (garden) front has a central range with 2 gabled wings: 3 hipped dormers with small-paned 2-light casement windows; a small-paned Diocletian window in the apex of each gables. All eaves and roof-slopes have heavy wooden modillion cornices. 6 windows to the main range: small-paned sashes with cased frames in shallow reveals; flat gauged arches with key-stones. 4 pairs of French doors to ground floor, each with 2 leaves of clear glass. A single-storey open veranda with a lean-to roof supported on columns is linked to ornate timber verandas with balconies projecting from each of the wings. Both wings have full height canted bays terminating in solid fluted parapets with stone dressings: 2 narrow 8-pane sash windows, and a central French door with 2 leaves, opening on to the balcony, on the upper floor; on the ground floor, 2 full-length windows with clear glass and a central double French door. The balconies have open balustrades and the verandas arched openings with columns, all ornate. 2 internal and 2 end chimney-stacks, all with tall narrow shafts and rows of high clay pots. Entrance front on the west side: the main entrance at the north-west end. Stone doorcase with triangular pediment, ½-round columns with moulded bases and Ionic capitals. Entrance doors up 3 steps: 2 leaves, each with 3 raised fielded panels. On each side of the external stack adjacent to the entrance is a drainpipe with an ornate waterhead dated 1898. Much of the north side contains service rooms, but has several different windows: mainly small-paned sashes, barred to the basement, but also a Diocletian window to the apex of each gable, a keyed oculus on the right, and a fine Venetian window which lights the half-landing of the principal stair. All windows have flat gauged arches with keystones, but the basement windows have segmental brick arches. Fine interior: the 3 principal rooms with dentil cornices, panelled walls and shutters, all with egg-and-dart ornament, and ornate C18 fireplace surrounds of carved woodwork and figured marble, 2 with raised steel grates. These were all taken from the former house on the site. Imperial stair with heavy turned balusters and plain handrails. Bathrooms and lavatories retain their original fittings with polished mahogany casings. The house was designed for the late Lord Wolverton. The architect, knighted in 1919, was sometime President of the Architectural Association. His designs include many important buildings, princially in London. Apart from the boundary walls and gate piers (qv), the outbuildings - including the stable block - are not of special interest.

Listing NGR: TL6396463071