School Of Nursing

House built in 1931, formerly a school of nursing (closed 1989) and later a care home from 1994. Now known as Barford Court. Originally built for Ian Stuart Miller, a film director and tycoon. Designed by architect Robert Cromie.

The building is constructed of grey-purple hand-made thin bricks laid mainly in Flemish bond, with a grey granite plinth and hipped clay tile roofs. The exterior features tall double chimney stacks linked with arched openings on the courtyard elevation, and gable ends to the east and west. The plan is U-shaped, with an entrance courtyard on the north front. The original vehicle entrance through the east wing is now blocked with infill additions.

The south front presents two storeys plus an attic with 4:3:4:2 bays. Original fenestration survives intact throughout, comprising twelve-pane hardwood sash windows and three hipped roof dormers set behind a high parapet. The first floor features three windows on either side of three square-headed openings forming a recessed balcony set above slightly projecting three central bays at ground floor level. The glazed doors at ground floor serve the lounge cum entrance hall and are flanked by four windows with a projecting single storey two-bay range with two-bay returns forming part of the library.

The original entrance on the north front is a curved door featuring the wheatear motif also used on the perimeter wall gates. The front door was reached via the carriageway entrance in the east wing, across the courtyard which has five engaged columns on the facade of the west wing, with others likely surviving behind additions to the east range. Two curved bays at first floor level flank a balcony above the front door. The courtyard features stone paving laid with patterns of banded brick and a raised polygonal flowerbed in brick with stone coping, inset with electric lights to assist evening visitors alighting from their cars.

The original interiors are largely complete and finished to a high standard. Ground floor rooms have quarry tiles with cream tiles laid in parallel lines, continued on flush panelled doors veneered in two woods. Flush panelled hardwood walls line rooms on the south front, with original moulded ceilings, doors, architraves and door furniture throughout. The library in the south-east range contains built-in furniture and a marble chimneypiece but no bookcases, probably indicating its original use as a film library. The lounge-cum-entrance hall features built-in banquettes flanking a tiled chimneypiece with its original firebasket, with double doors opening to the dining room, which has a full-height marble chimneypiece with fluted surface incorporating a mirror. A small room off to the north has curved, pargetted walls with an art deco style built-in clock, no longer functioning. The staircase features solid stepped balusters, quarter circle bronze strip balusters and a bronze globe newel with a moulded ceiling. A first floor room now partitioned contains a surviving built-in bedhead with veneered panel. The sitting room-cum-dressing room has an elliptical plan with painted white walls, fluted surfaces to the curved wall containing built-in wardrobes with flush panelled hardwood interiors, similar to the interiors of drawers in curved bays opposite.

The interior represents an austere and sophisticated design by an architect specializing in cinema and theatre building. The house is unusual in being designed with the motor car very much in mind, assuring all visitors of a grand entrance.