Lamb House

1. 1578 WEST STREET (South East Side)

Lamb House TQ 9220 1/104 l2.10.51.

II* GV

1. This house was built at the beginning of the C18 by James Lamb, the founder of the family which more or less controlled Rye throughout the C18. 2 storeys. 4 windows. Red brick and grey headers on a high base of the same materials with a moulded ridge at the top. Pilasters of red brick and grey headers on high pedestals at the sides. Panelled parapet. Moulded brick architraves over the windows. Large flat hood over the door supported by carved brackets. 10-panel moulded door. To the north is a late C18 addition of 2 windows on the lst floor containing a double doorway with large semi-circular fanlight and round-headed window on the ground floor, also a stuccoed stringcourse. The house suffered bomb damage mainly in the back part of the addition. Except in the north east corner the damage to the house itself was not structural, but the single-storey building attached to the house at the south east corner and known as the Court House or Garden Room was entirely demolished. George I was entertained at Lamb House in 1725 and the Duke of Cumberland in 1757. A tablet on the house records that Henry James, Author, lived there from 1898-1916. Subsequently E F Benson, Author, lived there for some years until his death in 1940.

Nos 1 & 2, Norman House, The Tower House, Lamb House, Nos 13 to 17 (consec) and No1 Mermaid Street form a group.

Listing NGR: TQ9204820272