Great Dixter

Great Dixter is a house with a complex history, significantly altered in the early 20th century. The north-west wing is a timber-framed hall-house, dating from approximately 1464 to 1479, notable for its exceptional condition and proportions. A smaller, timber-framed house, originally from Benenden in Kent, was relocated and re-erected as the south-east wing. The north-east wing is a later addition designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1910 and 1912, built on the footprint of the demolished buttery wing and housing offices.

The original north-west wing is characterised by its close-studded timbering. A distinctive feature is the overhang of the first-floor window bay on the entrance front, supported by projecting floor joists and topped with a gable featuring scalloped bargeboards. At the opposite end of the front facade is a two-storey gabled porch, similarly oversailing on a bressummer and brackets, with an open arcaded ground floor and two tiers of five windows composed of thin round-headed lights. The garden front exhibits wide overhanging eaves supported by brackets and a projecting tile-hung section at the north-west end, with a large sandstone chimney breast at the end wall. The roofs are tiled.

Internally, a later first floor has been removed from the hall, revealing the original king-post roof, incorporating hammer beams. The solar at the north-west end also retains its original king-post roof. The Benenden house also has close-studded timbering and jetties on projecting floor joists. It has a tiled roof, original windows with wooden mullions, and extends to two storeys with three windows. Lutyens’s addition is constructed of red brick on the ground floor and tile hanging above, with a tiled roof and two storeys, featuring four windows. The house was restored for Nathaniel Lloyd, author of "The History of the English House".