Glebelands

Glebelands is a large country house in a parkland setting on the north side of Glebelands Road, Wokingham. It was built in 1897 by Sir Ernest Newton in the Tudor style and has since been extended in the early and late 20th century by Harry Weedon and Partners of Birmingham. The building is now used as a private nursing home for retired people.

The house is constructed of brick with stone dressings to windows and door openings. It features stone coped gables beneath a tiled roof. The plan is a regular H-shape with a double pile service wing on the north side. The building rises to 2 storeys with attics, and is crowned by 6 large chimneys irregularly spaced on the roof slopes.

The original centre section displays a large projecting moulded bracketed wooden eaves cornice. All windows in this part are leaded casements with stone mullions and transomes. The 20th-century extension follows a similar character but is plainer in detail, featuring a hipped tile roof with a flat centre section and leaded casements set in wooden frames.

The north-east entrance front presents the original part symmetrically arranged about a central entrance with a projecting porch of 2 storeys. The porch contains a small attic gable set back with a half-glazed door, flanked by sidelights behind a balcony with wrought iron balustrade. The entrance door is set well back within the porch beneath a semi-circular projecting stone hood, with a date panel above on the wall. A 4-light window lights the first floor above. At each end are projecting gables: the right-hand gable displays a 4-light window on both first floors and a 3-light window in the attic with a semi-circular head to the centre casement. The left-hand gable is similar but substitutes decorative brick panels in place of the ground floor window. Recessed sections flank the porch. The right recessed section contains a staircase hall lit by 3 pairs of 2-light windows above 3 small single-light casements on the ground floor, with a half-glazed door to the right in a stone architrave with semi-circular head. The left recessed section has two 3-light windows at first floor over one large 6-light ground floor window. To the right of the centre part is a 2-bay section set back with 4-light and single windows. Further right stands the later extension, marked by a square tower slightly recessed with a one-storey gabled entry below and a 6-bay wing to the right with wooden windows.

The south-west elevation of the original part features 2 large projecting gables with a recessed centre part displaying the same eaves cornice. Left of centre is a 2-storey canted bay with 4-light windows and single-light returns; 3 semi-circular-headed 3-light attic windows light the upper floors. On the ground floor, a 4-light window stands left of the bay and a 3-light window to the right, with a half-glazed garden door beyond. Four-light windows flank the bay at first floor level. The left-hand gable contains a 2-storey canted bay with 4-light windows and single-light returns on both levels, and a 3-light window in the attic with a semi-circular head to the centre. The right-hand gable is similar but includes a ground floor projection with a canted bay and corresponding fenestration. To the left of the main part, the later extension projects at right angles with a tiled hipped roof and flat centre section.

The interior features a staircase hall entered through a pair of half-glazed and panelled doors with inlaid chevron-patterned work and diagonal wooden glazing bars. The lounge on the left is divided from the hall by a circular arched opening on the right with square columns and inlaid work. To the right is a dog-leg staircase with rounded rectangular balusters, the larger intermediate ones and the strings displaying similar inlaid work. The lounge is finished with a modillion cornice and panelling with moulded head to two-thirds of the room height.