Caversham Park (Bbc Records)

Caversham Park, formerly known as BBC Records, is a building that was rebuilt, possibly by J.T. Crews, after a fire in 1850 for William Crawshay, a Welsh iron master who purchased the estate in 1838. The original early 18th-century house of the Earl of Cadogan has no remaining parts, and very little of the earlier works by Mr. Acres and Capability Brown in the park survives. The building has three storeys and a basement, constructed of ashlar with an iron frame. The ground floor features rustication with a Doric frieze above, and there is a piano nobile above that. The façade consists of seven bays, with the outer bays being wider and featuring tripartite windows, separated by engaged Composite columns at the ends. A dentil cornice and a balustraded parapet adorn the top. The glazing bar sash windows have raised surrounds and bracket cills, with pediments on the piano nobile that alternate between triangular and segmental shapes. Flanking the building are set-back Ionic colonnades from 1840 by J.T. Crews, each with nine bays and a balustrade above, returning to the east, with an orangery to the west. There are various extensions to the east, including a chapel, and to the west, which includes former school rooms, as well as a north-west extension that features a classical Doric portico linked to a lodge dated 1890. At the rear of the main house is an Ionic porte cochere, which now serves as a reception room. The interior retains significant decoration from the post-1850 house, including a large central hall with two balustraded galleries—Doric on the ground floor and Ionic on the first floor. The best room is located behind the Crews West colonnade, featuring an arcade with a columned screen to the west and an apse colonnade to the east. The principal drawing room has elaborate decoration with enriched doorpieces. The chapel has been altered. Caversham Park is also noted as a landmark for the railway.