Tyringham Hall

Tyringham Hall is a country house, now used as a clinic, built between 1793 and 1797 by the renowned architect Sir John Soane for William Praed. It was subsequently altered in 1909 by G.F. Rees for F. Konig. The house is constructed of ashlar stone, with a slate mansard roof featuring dormers and a copper dome added in 1909. A balustraded parapet, topped with urn finials, sits above the portico, and a dentil cornice rings the building. There are two main storeys, an attic and a basement. The ground floor stone is slightly rusticated, featuring white stone detailing, a reeded band above the first floor, and a narrow recessed band joining the heads of the first-floor windows. Ground-floor windows are sash windows with deep, panelled cills.

The main entrance front has seven bays, with the central three forming a segmental bow supported by four giant Doric columns in antis, framed by wall pilasters. An entablature and cornice extend in line with the rest of the façade. A glazed door, accessed by segmental stone steps, is centrally positioned and flanked by stone sphinxes. Coupled giant pilasters at the outer corners support a projecting section of the entablature, with two bays on either side of the bow. All windows are sash windows, with a band of Greek key pattern below the first-floor windows. A two-storey service wing is located to the right, largely refaced in ashlar stone in 1909. The left-hand flank elevation of this wing is of similar design and largely unaltered.

The garden front presents a similar composition of seven bays, with a segmental bow incorporating an attic storey added in 1909, again featuring pilasters, a cornice, a balustraded parapet and urns. A central glazed door is set within a baroque stone doorcase constructed in 1909. A balustraded parapet conceals the basement that surrounds the house. The garden front of the service wing was also refaced in ashlar stone in 1909, with two storeys and eleven bays and a balustraded parapet. A courtyard is incorporated into the north-east elevation, accessed through an arch with a pediment. A modern swimming pool attached to the property is not considered historically significant.

The interior of the house was completely altered in 1909, adopting a French style. This includes an imitation stone entrance hall and a main staircase. However, some original features remain: shallow domed ceilings from Soane’s design survive at the intersection of the corridors on the first floor, and some of Soane’s simpler joinery details are present on the attic floor.