Brankesmere And Attached Walls And Piers

Brankesmere is a villa built in 1895–96 for Henry Brickwood, owner of Brickwoods brewery and founder of Portsmouth Football Club. The architect was AE Cogswell. The house was later used as a police station and subsequently as social services offices. It was restored in the late 20th century.

The building is an elaborate and eccentric composition drawing on Jacobean, Tyrolean and French influences. It is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with some grey brick diaperwork, combined with applied eclectic timber framing with pargetting, chiefly to the first floor and attic gables, and some stone dressings. The roof is plain tiled with ornamental brick stacks—a group of four to the left of the rear pitch and a group of eight on the far right. Stone gryphons crown the gable ends, and a central ogee-shaped lead dome bears a weathervane with the Brickwood monogram. The building is asymmetrical, comprising two storeys and attics. Windows are mainly mullioned or mullioned and transomed casements with some leaded lights, though some sash windows appear on the north west elevation.

The west front facing Queen's Crescent is the main elevation. It features left and right bays projecting with gables. On the left, four stone steps lead to a porch with a two-leaf carved panelled door and over-light, flanked by carved wood pilasters and two ornamental brackets supporting beams with lion head stops and a moulded pediment. The first floor has a tripartite wood mullion and transomed casement with patterned leaded lights, facing a jettied gable with shaped brackets and bargeboard. Each flanking wing has a stone cornice with a jettied and bracketed first floor, dentilled wood cornice, and a tiled hipped roof with its ridge at eaves level. The left return has two narrow transomed casements with stained glass diamond pattern leaded lights to ground and first floors. On the right, the recessed bay has a tripartite stone mullion and transomed casement with patterned leaded lights and rusticated stone jambs, with stone panels overhead carved with trefoils. The first floor of this bay has a similar tripartite casement set under a segmental stone arch, facing a jettied gable with ornate carved supporting brackets. Within the gable sits a three-light diamond patterned casement with a projecting moulded wood surround. Above the rear roof is a large square rooflight with a lead covered ogee roof and weathervane. On the right, a projecting bay contains a two-light wood mullion and transomed casement on the first floor, each light with a cusped head, and a jettied attic with a small two-light diamond pattern lead lighted casement with trefoil timberwork below the sill. A turret projects on the right, round on the ground floor and octagonal above the first floor, with three long wood transomed casements each with a cusped head set within splayed and rusticated stone surrounds. The first floor of the turret has ornately carved stonework with three narrow mullioned casements, deep projecting bracketed eaves, and a tiled splay footed spirelet.

The south elevation facing Kent Road is four bays wide, featuring similar brickwork with rusticated stone quoins and dressings. The first floor displays ornate timber framing with quatrefoil motifs and pargetting. The centre projects with a five-light wood mullion and transomed casement, a bracketed projecting balcony, and turned wood columns rising to support a projecting facing gable. An octagonal corner turret to the west has a spire, and a square bay set diagonally to the east with a wooden and glazed porch. The south east elevation has two large gables with eclectic timberframing, though mid-20th century extensions to the ground floor are not of special interest. The north west elevation displays a series of timberframed gables, a timberframed square bay to the right hand side, a tall leaded light window to the right hand gable, and sash windows with glazing bars to the upper parts only on the left. Five stone steps on the side lead to an open verandah area with low stone flanking walls with pierced panels and piers, each with a moulded cap and stone ball finial.

The interior is richly detailed. Mosaic flooring in the entrance area leads to a full height staircase hall with an elaborate arched entrance and a massive Jacobean style chimneypiece with deep carving. An elaborate carved settle with shelving is present, along with pedimented doorcases with strapwork panelled doors. The staircase features twisted balusters, square newel posts, linenfold dado panelling and an arched gallery with panelling and skylights. An ornamental tiled dado to the gallery bears dragons heads and floral designs. A coved cornice over the staircase carries similar tilework and an elaborate ceiling rose. Strapwork designs appear to the ceilings and cornices. The drawing room has a plastered cornice in mid-18th century French style and a deep modillion cornice. The first floor east morning room has two pairs of curved doors, a moulded cornice, a ceiling with floral motifs, a dado rail to walls, and an elaborate fireplace with two tiers of swags, engaged Composite columns and a blue and white patterned tiled surround. The south eastern bedroom has a ceiling with geometrical patterns and pedimented doorcases. The service area retains original plain tiling in two shades of green, brown, yellow and black.

Henry Brickwood, who commissioned the house, was knighted in 1904 and created a Baronet in 1927. The building exemplifies the exuberant domestic architecture of the 1890s for a wealthy industrialist, drawing stylistic influences from many sources. Its interiors are detailed with designs comparable to those found in Brickwoods public houses of the same period.