Claybury Hall (Former Claybury Hospital)

Claybury Hall, formerly Claybury Hospital, was probably designed by Jesse Gibson for James Hatch in the late 18th century, possibly around 1785, as indicated by the date on a fire bell. The building is two storeys high and constructed of gault brick, with a stone cornice, blocking course, and other stone details. It features a band between the ground and first floors. The windows are sash windows with plain reveals.

The entrance front has six bays and a four-columned Doric porch with a round-headed doorway and fanlight. A wing of similar style and date extends from the main block, with later additions at the rear. The garden, or principal front, is arranged with 2+2+2 bays, and features a two-storey bow with columns and a dentilled cornice on the ground floor. Other ground floor windows have fan-fluted heads and cornices. A parapet with a small pediment at each end of the front and a balustrade in the centre completes the façade. The side elevation is also of similar style, with enriched central windows. A wrought iron fire escape stair has been added to this side.

The interior retains good decorative features from the period, including a galleried stone staircase with delicate wrought iron balustrade, and classical reliefs on the walls. A saloon, located at the centre of the garden front, features an enriched ceiling, a bowed window, and classical trompe-l'oeil paintings in grisaille on canvas used as overdoors. It also has a 19th-century fireplace and a good door. The former dining room to the west contains a ceiling cornice and a sideboard recess with freestanding, full-height painted scagliola columns with Ionic caps, along with a 19th-century fireplace. A room at the east end, likely a library and music room, has cornices and original white marble fireplaces, one of which incorporates profile portraits of Homer and Virgil, and a central plaque with a relief of a reclining Venus. Several upstairs rooms retain original wood mantelpieces with composition ornament. The original entrance to the house was through the southern bow, but was moved to the north front around 1791, following advice from Humphry Repton.