Forest Lodge

Forest Lodge is a former house, part of Whitelands College at the time of its listing, and later subdivided into apartments. It was built between 1862 and 1865 for Joseph Gurney, a shorthand writer to the Houses of Parliament. The house is constructed in an Italianate style, using stock brick with stone dressings, and has a hipped slate roof with three tall Italianate stacks.

The building is three storeys and a basement, with four windows visible on the front elevation. It has a bracketed eaves cornice and quoins at the ends of the building. The second floor features three double round-headed sash windows. The first floor has three sashes with vertical glazing, cornices, brackets above, and panels with guilloche ornament below. The ground floor features one tripartite sash window with brackets and one canted bay window. A central porch has round-headed openings and five steps leading to the street.

Inside, the staircase has two turned balusters to each tread, with a pier topped by an acorn finial. The hall features a round-headed recess with a lion’s mask and shell moulding. A rear ground floor room has a plaster cornice decorated with roses and daffodils, a six-panel door featuring a cornice and finials, and a fireplace with fluted columns and a Gibbs surround. A large lounge contains a fireplace with fluted pilasters and a lyre design to the frieze, a doorcase with a broken pediment and lyre design, and a plastered ceiling with floral motifs. On the first floor, a particularly unusual sliding screen is present to create a false window. A marble bolection moulded fireplace is also located on the first floor.