Hurst House, The Naked Beauty

Hurst House, also known as "The Naked Beauty," is an early 18th century building, said to have been constructed in 1714. It was reconstructed after a fire in 1937. The house has two storeys and is finished in painted stucco, with carved stone dressings that are also painted. It features a hipped pantile roof and six sash windows with cambered heads, arranged in three major bays (2+2+2 windows). Full height Corinthian pilasters are located at the ends of the elevation and between each pair of windows. The entablature and coped parapet project forward over the pilasters, supporting fine carved stone urns.

The central entrance boasts a high-quality carved wooden doorcase with fluted Corinthian pilasters, an architrave, and a carved pulvinated frieze on each pilaster. Surrounding the door is carved moulding, with the architrave sweeping up in the center into a richly carved tympanum featuring an open segmental pediment. Above the door is a rectangular glazed fanlight with two bars, and the entrance includes a six-panel door. There are single storey wings with one window on either side.

The garden front of the house is two storeys, with an attic and basement, built of brown brick and largely rebuilt in its former design. It includes two canted bay windows and a parapet in the bays with ramped ends. The central doorway on this front is flanked by pilasters and features a frieze, cornice, and leaded fanlight, with steps leading up to the entrance.

Inside, the entrance hall is panelled and features a good staircase with fluted and twisted balusters, three to each step, and a ramped rail. Other rooms contain chimney pieces and decorative fittings designed by Robert Adam, which were brought in from Bowood, Wiltshire, and date from the 1760s, following the demolition of Bowood in 1955. The forecourt has been restored and features mid-18th century iron gates, with piers topped by urn and ball finials. The origin of the house's second name is not definitively known. Hurst House is described and illustrated in detail in Part V of the Woodford and District Antiquarian Society's Proceedings and Transactions.