Southside House

Southside House is a substantial pair of early-Georgian houses built in 1751 and extended in two phases during the late 18th century. The two formerly separate dwellings were unified and extensively remodelled in the mid-20th century by Malcolm Munthe, with further additions made in the 1980s.

Materials and Construction

The entrance front of the main house and its flanking service wings are built of mid-18th-century plum brick with predominantly red brick rubbed arches and Portland stone window sills. Both late-18th-century rear additions are constructed of stock brick, with red brick dressings and Portland stone sills. The eastern rear range also features Portland stone parapet coping. The western late-18th-century rear range has a pan-tiled roof, whilst clay plain tiles cover the rest of the building, most of which were replaced following fire damage to the front range in 2010.

Plan

The building is double-pile in plan, with rear ranges added during the late 18th century. The dining room, first built in the late 19th century, was extended in the mid-20th century by Munthe. A chapel was added above the dining hall in the 1980s. The original houses were built symmetrically, each with a small central entrance hall and staircase, with a reception room on either side at ground floor level. This arrangement remains legible. Since unification, door openings have been inserted in the spine wall between the two formerly distinct houses on each floor. Kitchens and service rooms occupy the basement, with garret bedrooms—originally staff sleeping quarters—in the mansard attic level. The principal rooms are on the ground and first floors, with two-storey stabling and service ranges in the end bays.

Entrance Front

The Woodhayes Road elevation presents a restrained Palladian composition, formed of paired pedimented sections for each of the original houses, which project forward from the rest of the façade. The main house is ten window bays wide, bookended by single-bay stable and service ranges with lean-to roof pitches. There are two principal storeys, with an attic and area-lit basement. A mansard roof runs along the full width of the front range, with dormer windows revealed by a corresponding castellated parapet that appears to date from around 1900.

The entrance is in the fifth bay from the left, approached by five stone steps from the 1750s (repositioned after the house was unified) with later iron balustrades. The panelled door and inset reveals to the central entrance are original, but the pedimented Doric surround appears to be a faithful late-19th- or early-20th-century replica. Prior to unification in the mid-20th century, door surrounds were positioned centrally under the paired pediments. These two entrances have been replaced with rendered niches containing reproduction classical sculptures inserted by Malcolm Munthe as part of the unification.

Most of the multi-paned sashes across the range are original, with relatively thick glazing bars set under gauged arches of rubbed red brick with Portland stone sills. The lunette windows within the pediments are original to the design. The dormer sashes to the mansard roof appear to date from the late 19th century. A canted bay window to the right of the entrance was added in the late 19th century, with sashes mostly of this date, although the two outer ground-floor windows are reset original sashes. An ogee-domed clock tower, added in the 1980s by Munthe, is positioned at the centre of the roof ridge.

The brickwork pointing has now been largely renewed, but appears likely to have been penny struck originally. Certain areas of brickwork have been refaced, notably in the end service bays and around the later niches, where replacement brick in Flemish bond is distinct from the original build.

The basement areas are vaulted, with steps at the east and west ends. The east side retains its original English bonded brick wall to the vault with apparently original steps now screeded over, but with the original Portland stone railing plinth remaining at garden level. The entrance to the cellar vault on this side has a later boarded door. The west side has original Portland stone steps and railing plinth at garden level, with concrete rendering to the basement area and an original door with its surround and ironmongery.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation expresses several distinct phases in the evolution of Southside House. At the west end is the gable-fronted, two-storey stable and service range of 1751, entirely of brick laid in Flemish bond. Larger modern windows have been inserted and the lower western section of the wall has been crudely rebuilt. Connected to the east side, with a break in the brick coursing, is the late-18th-century extension range in Flemish bonded stock brickwork with penny-struck pointing, of two storeys with a shallow-hipped roof. The central door surround here was reset by Munthe from the façade of Southside House following unification. The surround is complete and, along with the upper Portland stone steps and cast-iron balustrade, dates from 1751, though the panelled door and fanlight over are slightly later, probably dating to around 1800. On either side of the door are late-18th-century French doors, with later alterations to enlarge the opening by adding top lights. The three basement area windows are late-18th-century sashes with stone sills, original to this rear extension.

The projecting dining room and chapel extension to the easternmost bay of the former Holme Lodge was added in phases, with the rendered brick sections to the rear elevation at ground floor level from the mid-20th century and the first-floor chapel added in the 1980s by Munthe. The chapel features miniature stained-glass Gothic arch windows and a copper-clad pyramidal roof.

To the east side of the rear elevation, serving the formerly distinct Southside House, is the four-bay, three-storey range with area-lit basement built around 1800. This is the most coherent and unaltered portion of the rear elevation, built of stock brick laid in Flemish bond with a parapet with stone coping and red brick gauged arches to mostly original sash windows (though extended to the west end at ground floor level). The door to the garden, set off to the east, is original, with its Portland stone steps and wrought-iron balustrades. The low-set door to the basement area is a later insertion. To the east end and set back—built against the earliest front range of the house—is the two-storey service range, built in plum brick laid in Flemish bond and dating to 1751. The single-storey addition to the front of this appears to be a later-19th-century addition, with the front section rebuilt or added to in the late 20th century.

The eastern return elevation was built and refaced in phases, with the front range in Flemish bonded stock brick, with a chimneystack apparently rebuilt around 1800. To the rear bay, a section of surviving original brickwork can be noted to the lean-to roof wing, but the main wall face to the north has been rebuilt, probably when the extension of around 1800 was added. The western return range has original Flemish bonded brickwork to the front range, with some repairs evident and a later chimneystack. The two-part stable door and frame is mostly of 1751, though with repairs and replacement of the lower section. The western side elevation of the stables is of rendered brick.

The flanking arcades joining the service wings to the former coach houses at the ends of the house were added between 1971 and 1975 by Munthe following unification, built of stock brick with red brick dressings. Rendered pilasters capped with urns divide the two arches to the arcade at ground floor, with circular openings above.

Principal Interiors: Ground Floor

The principal entrance is via the double-height galleried hall, created by Munthe through the conversion of the western reception room of the formerly distinct east house ('Southside') and the incorporation of the original first-floor room above. This is the most dramatic of Munthe's interventions, with salvaged architectural features used in combination with new additions to evoke a 17th-century Baroque character, seemingly conceived to give credence to the claimed—though false—narrative of Richard Pennington having partially rebuilt an earlier house here in 1687.

Set opposite the entrance is an over-scaled, applied fire surround, which is a composite work combining some salvaged architectural details in a Baroque style with other decorative elements of plaster and concrete, including a central roundel marked 'M'. The inserted doorway to the west wall has an elaborate arched surround created by Munthe, with paired stone columns with Ionic capitals supporting a broken pediment which integrates a crude plaster bust of Charles I set on a cork entablature. The east door surround incorporates decorative console brackets within paired pilasters, presumably imported from elsewhere, with the original door and architrave removed.

Two Doric columns resting slightly off-centre on plinths support the gallery, though photographs from the 1980s show these previously to have been Ionic columns. For reasons unknown, these appear to have been later repositioned in the store building to the west end of the forecourt and replaced. The floor is laid with travertine and black marble chequered pavers, known through rare surviving documentation of Munthe's work to have been installed in the 1960s.

To the gallery level, there is a balustraded passage from the rear southern room through to the staircase. A replica Jacobean overmantle, with elaborate strapwork and paired caryatids, is positioned above the fireplace on the south wall and a salvaged pair of stone engaged columns are set on plinths to the east wall, interrupting the dado rail and cornice to this side.

The ceiling to the hall was painted by Munthe and his brother in an ambitious though amateur fashion (dated 1959), with a trompe l'oeil effect creating a coved Baroque ceiling and a central panel which features a copy of a Rubens painting of around 1620 of Christ and John the Baptist as children, which was claimed to have been previously owned by the family. The north and west walls at gallery level are rendered and scored to achieve an ashlar block effect.

Details in this room that appear to date from the mid-18th century include the dado panelling, formed with flush pine boards with a moulded skirting, deep base board and dado rail, along with the repositioned panelled front door with its original architrave, iron rim lock and inlaid iron hinges.

To the east of the central hall is the original entrance and staircase to the formerly distinct eastern house. The original entrance door is blocked and the chequer flooring of the 1960s is continued through from the galleried hall. The open string staircase is of 1751, though is slightly late for this date in style and form, with comparable examples in London dated to the 1720s. It has plain Doric newel posts and bottle balusters, arranged two per tread, with shaped end brackets and a moulded handrail, turned to the closer step. The wall side is dado panelled, with the moulding to the skirting and dado rail matching the handrail profile. The under-stair panelling and associated four-panel door appear to be later insertions of around 1800, possibly associated with the building of the rear range at around this time. The staircase rises through to the second floor and descends to the basement.

The eastern reception room of the 1751 house, remodelled by Munthe in the mid-20th century, is set off the staircase hall. Again, the 1960s chequer flooring installed by Munthe continues through the room. This room also retains runs of flush dado panelling, topped with a moulded rail, similar in form to the adjacent staircase. To the south wall, there is a simple slip panel fire surround formed out of slabs of marble with moulded edges. This, like the stairs, is suggestive of a slightly earlier 18th-century date, but is carefully integrated and on balance would appear to be original to the room.

Next to this, the door and surround leading to the southern 'music room' has mouldings framing the double-filleted ovolos which fit with similar examples of the earliest 1751 work, but the door leads to the late-18th-century rear range, so it either forms part of this later phase or was moved from elsewhere in the house. The windows to the north have mid-18th-century shutters with panels with sunk beads and strap hinges.

The cornices that survive in this room appear to be the work of Munthe, possibly incorporating earlier elements. The long sections are elaborate, combining runs of egg-and-dart and dentil courses, but these collide with another type on the window wall, which is a simpler Doric cornice, possibly original, though the quadrant ovolo moulding is oversized, suggesting some later reworking. The timber arch leading to the staircase hall and its flanking Doric pilasters are salvage pieces that have been inserted, bearing no relationship to the cornice that passes above.

Opposite is a box-like structure covered in canvas, falsely claimed to be a historic 'powder closet' in accounts of the house from the 1980s, though clearly of modern plyboard construction with some salvaged features, including an 18th-century cupboard door and architrave, with a section of late-17th-century bolection panelling integrating a hinged panel and oval opening, possibly part of a historic closet.

The southern 'music room' is formed of the two amalgamated garden rooms added as part of the later-18th-century range to Southside, seemingly united and remodelled by Munthe, with little in situ remaining that convincingly predates the mid-20th century. There is greater coherence to this interior scheme than seen elsewhere in the house, with salvaged features integrated with some erudite new details fashioned in a consistent 18th-century style.

The rooms have a common entablature with a deep frieze and an architrave designed to integrate the fluted Ionic pilasters that dress the walls of the west portion of the room and the central fluted Ionic piers that divide the two room sections. These pilasters and piers are mid-20th-century additions, while the cornice within the entablature is of Doric box form and, as in the adjoining front reception room, has over-scaled ovolo moulding which appears to have been introduced by Munthe. The dividing Ionic piers are in fact paired pilasters placed back-to-back, with the join covered by sheets of plyboard.

The fireplaces at the two ends are different in design. The west is a large marble bolection-moulded fireplace of the late 17th century with flanking niches for sculptures, whereas the eastern fire surround is a mid-20th-century piece incorporating a frieze framed by scrolls, with a central mask and swags, designed in an elaborate 18th-century manner. The windows to the garden have original architraves and box shutters.

The reception room to the west of the entrance hall (formerly the eastern room of Holme Lodge), known as the 'breakfast room', is largely the product of remodelling by Munthe, though with some original elements. The canted bay window was added between 1877 and 1894 and the sashes retain box shutters of this date.

The door through to the entrance hall has been widened and various elements of architectural salvage appear to have been combined to create a theatrical composite surround, integrating Regency reeded pilasters with roundels, truncated cornice sections with egg-and-dart decoration, a keystone with a shell motif and a blank arch with applied blocks, possibly intended to simulate dentils. The entablature around the room, breaking at the canted bay, incorporates a scallop shell cornice of plaster and a deep frieze with pressed-leather sections embellished with swags and assorted classical motifs.

The fire surround to the south wall has a lugged architrave enriched with carved scallop shells and rosettes framing marble insets, correct in form for the 1751 date of this part of the house, but topped with a later-added frieze under a Tuscan cornice with the script motto applied 'PARCE QU'IL ME PLAIT'. The six-panel door through to the western stair hall appears to be original, with panels framed by double-filleted ovolos and with an architrave with ogee moulding.

The western staircase to the former Holme Lodge is slightly later than that to the east, replaced in connection with the building of the rear wing, which has varying floor levels. The staircase appears to date to the late 18th century, with a turned balustrade with slim balusters and a mahogany handrail, rising through to the second floor. The stair hall has been widened to take in part of the western reception room, forming a corridor back to the rear range, which unlike the stair hall has a box cornice enriched with egg-and-dart moulding. There is simple moulded cornicing to the west wall. The fielded panelling to the corridor is of early-20th-century date. The corner display cabinet with arched head and keystone is an insertion formed of salvaged elements. The broad floorboards here are of mid-18th-century date, with early moulded skirting retained.

To the west of the stair hall is a further reception room, most recently functioning as a gallery space when the house was opened to the public, with fixed display cases presently (2024) obscuring the walls. The room retains a doorway with an architrave with ogee moulding and double-filleted ovolo mouldings framing the panels to the door, matching the door to the east side of the stair hall. The fire surround is of early to mid-18th-century design, potentially original to the house. The surround has a lugged architrave framing the opening to the hearth, topped with a frieze integrating scrolls and a fret pattern of intersecting segments of circles under a Tuscan cornice. Within the fire surround is a cast-iron hob grate with classical embellishments including a pair of ovals with Grecian figures and pierced fretwork, slightly late in style and too narrow for the opening, but with an ornamental back plate that fits well.

The internal form of the western rear room, entered through the stair hall corridor, appears to date from the late 18th century, when the rear extension was added. The panelled doors with fluted Regency architraves, together with the consistent moulded cornice, deep skirtings, box shutters and architraves to the windows are all consistent with this period. The fire surround at the west end is stylistically of an earlier-18th-century form with a lugged architrave and frieze with a carved swag motif, but this sits correctly with the marble hearth and the trimming of the original floorboards, so appears to be a careful later insertion. The decorative wall painting and Munthe family coat of arms appear to be contemporary with the entrance hall (around 1959).

The dining hall, accessed via steps down from the bay-fronted 'breakfast room', predominantly dates to the mid-20th century, having been extended to its present footprint by 1951. The pair of fluted pilasters mark the narrowing of the room and are similar in form to those in the 'music room', with gilt reeds to the fluting. There is a consistent box cornice of mid-20th-century date and the fireplace at the north end is an elaborate confection by Munthe, in plaster and concrete, integrating an array of classical motifs and elements of salvage within a theatrical Baroque composite design. The fireplace is not served by a flue and would never have functioned. Beneath the hearth stone is a hidden store for Munthe's cache of weapons, discovered in 2011. The six-panel door and architrave through to the west reception room dates from 1751 and has been repositioned. The part-glazed door to the breakfast room appears to be an original external door through to the garden, prior to the rear extension.

The service wings at each end of the house are original to the house but are simply appointed with much alteration. The bay to the west end has a small store, converted to a WC, and a set of 20th-century stairs with a narrow door of around the 1930s from the main section, which is a modern-fitted kitchenette. The door from the westernmost reception room is a six-panel door with butt hinges set in an architrave, dating to around 1800. The box shutters to the front window appear to be contemporary with this.

The stable occupies the rear half of this service range and can only be externally accessed. It is a largely complete stabling range of the mid-18th century, surviving with boarded and panelled horse stalls, a two-part stable door, tethering rings, brick flooring and a hopper and iron feed grates of 1751.

The east service range is formed of three rooms. The front portion is a storeroom, possibly converted from its original use as a coach house (a sash window of around 1900 seeming to have replaced broad carriage doors to the front range). There are steps down from the eastern reception room, with narrow floorboards, a simple fire surround to the east wall, cavetto cornice and four-panel doors all seeming to date to the late 19th century. The room set off to the west at the front is a kitchenette, with further four-panel doors and a winder staircase with simple newel post, handrail and balusters all of late-19th-century date. The rear room is the width of the front two and is entirely modern in its fittings, save for one four-panel door of the late 19th century from the front room.

Principal Interiors: First Floor

At first floor level, the eastern staircase leads to the main eastern bedroom and the gallery passage of the main entrance hall. The western bedroom is entered through an original six-panel door complete with architrave. This room has a box cornice with enrichments, deep skirting and a dado rail, which together with the lugged timber fire surround with limestone insets to the south wall, all appear to date from 1751. A WC and shower room have been added in this room to the north (front) portion, apparently after 1990.

The two end rooms of the front range within the service wing were refurbished in the late 19th century with the winder staircase, fire surround and four-panel doors all consistent with this date.

The rear rooms, added around 1800, consist of a western room with original six-panel doors with architrave and two windows with architraves, aprons and box shutters. The ceiling, box cornice and dado are all later replacements. To the west wall of the room there is a fireplace with a timber lugged surround with marble insets which appears to be a good replica replacement in mid-18th-century fashion. An opening has been created in the wall between the two rear rooms, with a later panelled door. The east bedroom, in common with the adjacent west room, has a later cornice, ceiling and dado, though the box shutters and architraves to the windows, along with the moulded marble fire surround and flanking cupboards appear to be original to the room. The entrance from the front room (north wall) was inserted at the time of the enlargement of Southside around 1800 and the six-panel doors and architrave are correct for this date.

The west staircase at first floor level leads to two principal bedrooms within the front range, both through original six-panel doors retaining architraves. The east room survives as an almost complete interior of 1751, including wide floorboards, windows with architraves, box shutters and furnishings, together with an enriched moulded cornice and marble slip fireplace with a lugged architrave and its hearth stone. A small lobby to the south-east corner was inserted by Munthe as a discreet way of linking this room to both the gallery of the entrance hall and the rear passage back to the chapel, obviating the need to pass through the room.

The west room has a box cornice with egg-and-dart embellishment and an original fire surround, also with a hearth stone and marble slips within a lugged architrave. The two-panel door through to the service range is of a simpler form than other examples of 1751, though is likely original as it is consistent with other doors to service ranges in the cellar and at attic level.

The two service rooms to the front range, probably originally staff rooms, have been largely refitted as a bathroom and landing, retaining simple two-panel doors and some fitted cabinets of around 1900. The rear room, also part of the original build of the house, has a timber binding beam and some other fittings of late-19th-century date, including a simple timber fire surround and six-panel door.

The rear reception room was added in the late 18th century and is accessed directly from the half stair landing to the north-west corner through a late-18th-century panelled door in contemporary architrave. The room has been subdivided to integrate a kitchen in the eastern bay, with modern fittings. The simple timber surround to the west wall is probably original, with a later mantle shelf. The windows to the south retain late-18th-century reveal linings in place of shutters.

To the east of this room is the 1980s first-floor extension added by Munthe, integrating a small bedroom with WC and a separately accessed chapel to the east end (accessed via the corridor from the gallery passage) which is simply furnished, with a built-in cupboard with mezzanine floor. The small stained-glass windows have leaded lights, one being a late-19th-century salvaged piece, the others are 1980s replicas. There is an altar table and several icons at the south end, but these are not fixtures of the house.

Principal Interiors: Second Floor

The second floor consists of a main front range, to the mansard attic level of the original houses, and three rear rooms to the eastern extension range of 1800. To the east side, the staircase has a timber chest built into the half landing, made of original wide boards, though probably dating to the later 19th century on account of the fixtures and style.

To the west of the stair hall is a garret bedroom with wide original floorboards, entered through an original two-panel door with architrave. A corridor back to the rear rooms has been added to the room—retaining a section of broad, horizontal, matchboard panelling—probably added around 1800 in conjunction with the building of the rear range. An additional southern corridor was created by Munthe in this room as part of the integration of Holme Lodge, which has taken in a late-19th-century fireplace that previously served the bedroom.

To the east, the other original garret bedroom has been subdivided to provide a bathroom which integrates a late-19th-century grate fireplace and some wide floorboards, together with a kitchenette which doubles as a passageway back to the eastern rear room. The room has its original two-panel door and architrave.

To the rear extension of 1800, two larger rooms, joined by a corridor against the east end wall of the main range, flank a smaller central room. Both of the larger rooms have two-panel doors with architraves and fire surrounds with marble insets and iron hob grates. The western room also has original box shutters to the window. The central room has its original two-panel door with architrave and floorboards.

To the west end of the second floor, the western room has been subdivided to provide a WC. A two-panel original door and architrave survive from the stairs, whereas the door to the WC is a later four-panel type of the late 19th century. A fireplace to the south wall has a mantel shelf but no surround. The eastern room has a further original two-panel door, broad mid-18th-century floorboards and a bricked-in fireplace with mantle shelf to the south wall.

Basement

The basement is arranged much as it was following the additions of the late 18th century to the two houses. It divides into a front and rear range, accessed internally from the east and west staircases, with separate external stairs up from the front vaulted areas. Stone pavers, original fitted Welsh dressers and fire surrounds (with later inserted cooking ranges) and some matchboard panelling survive to both kitchen ranges of 1751 to the east and west ends of the front range.

At either end of the range are original brick vaults, undersailing the service wings. Several original four-panel doors survive through the front range together with the original 1751 flight of stairs at the west end, set directly beneath the later Regency staircase serving the rest of the house.

The inner western room has been altered to accommodate the late-19th-century bay window, but with original stone pavers, presumably with some repositioned from elsewhere in the house. The inner eastern room appears to have been a secondary service room or staff lodgings, with an original fireplace with stone surround and bracketed mantle shelf and several fitted cupboards with panelled doors. Set to the south of the eastern kitchen is a vaulted wine store with brick paviour storage bays, which is likely to be from the original phase of mid-18th-century building, given it is only in communication with the front range.

The rear range of the basement has two further kitchens, probably built to supersede the smaller front kitchens in association with the extensions to the two houses in the late 18th century. The eastern kitchen is accessed from the stairs, with a stone flagged floor and a wide stone surround fireplace to the west wall and Welsh dresser of around 1800 to the east. A door through to the pantry appears to be a repositioned panelled door of 1751 from the front range. The pavers continue into the pantry, which has a cupboard and a high-level shelf above the door, which both appear to be original to this portion of the building. An end room is a distinct larder or store, with architrave to the threshold, but the door has been removed.

To the west end, the rear kitchen is accessed via a short flight of stairs and panelled door of late-18th-century date. This kitchen also retains late-18th-century flagstone pavers and a substantial stone fire surround to the cooking range at the west end. Part of the east end is sectioned off to form a store, with a later-19th-century panelled door at the north end giving access.

Subsidiary Features

The western store and garage building is in a dilapidated state but retains some original fabric. Its roof, comprising timber rafters and purlins sitting on a timber wall spanning rendered brick piers, has been renewed in the 20th century using machine-cut timbers. The roof has exposed timber battens and plain tiles, with no underlay. The front wall to the building is of lapped weatherboarding, some of which is original, retaining two potentially mid-18th-century posts. The rear wall is the original boundary wall, partially rebuilt with modern stock brick. An internal beaded matchboard partition separates the southern store area from the northern garage. The flooring is of cobbled stone.

To the east end of the house there is a freestanding WC and store built against the original boundary wall, with a lean-to roof. The door surround and an internal boarded divide are likely original.

The front wall is Flemish bonded plum brickwork with capped gate piers, partially rebuilt by 1913 and later reworked in the mid-20th century to heighten parts of the wall and introduce the present openings and ball finials. The boundary walls to the west and east (Wright's Alley) are of varying date with sections of mid-18th-century date to the north end at both sides, heightened in places, with sections rebuilt in stock brick in the later 19th and 20th centuries to the southern stretches. A section to the south-east end of the plot has been rebuilt in concrete blockwork.