Old Lodge

Old Lodge is a large house built between 1900 and 1903 for the Earl De La Warr at Hartfield, designed in Jacobean style. The building is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with tiled roofs and sandstone chimneys, arranged in a U-shaped plan with principal rooms facing south-west, a service wing to the south-east, a squash court to the east, and stabling to the west.

The principal north-east front rises to two storeys with attics, featuring two triangular gables and a two-storey projecting porch with a carved finial and kneelers. A four-light oriel window sits beneath a crenellated cornice, with a four-centred arched doorcase. Six windows, mostly mullioned or mullioned and transomed, punctuate the facade. The ground floor displays a large three-light canted bay. To the left, the service wing contains four double gables, one external chimneystack, and a two-storey ground floor projection.

Attached to the east is a squash court with coal cellar below, built of two-storey sandstone with a tile-hung attic storey and hipped tiled roof. Two gabled dormers serve the attic, and four cambered diamond-leaded casements light the facade. An external stone chimneystack and gable end with external staircase are present, along with a hipped tiled weatherporch supported on wooden columns. The roof contains tie beams, collar beams, through purlins and boarded rafters, with a plain balustrated gallery.

To the west stands a coachhouse with attached cottages built of coursed sandstone rubble with tiled roof, four gables with diamond-leaded lights, and six double doors. A cambered doorcase and one mullioned window serve the tack room. The rear elevation features three gabled and one hipped dormer, with a brick lean-to. A walled courtyard connects to a further cottage with a brown brick ground floor in stretcher bond and tile-hung first floor with two gables and diamond-paned casements. The side elevation is of sandstone; the rear is brown brick with a half-hipped barn with hipped lean-to and continuous windows.

The south-west garden front rises to two storeys and attics with a 7:8:7 window arrangement. Four hipped dormers and three full-height gables with attic windows project from the facade, two of them incorporating two-storey canted bays with nine lights each. A two-storey square porch with balustrading above provides access. Mullioned and transomed windows throughout, with a band above the first floor featuring lead rainwater heads. The right side elevation has an external chimneystack with a curved arch on brackets below, providing access to a ground floor window.

Attached to the left of the garden front is a one-storey library with a seven-light crenellated bay and hipped tiled roof. Further left stands the billiard room with a similar nine-light bay and a loggia with four-centred arches. The service wing to the right of the garden front contains six gabled dormers, four of which are joined, and six mullioned windows. One-storey sandstone offices including a game larder and dairy are attached to the east, along with a sandstone garden wall incorporating a four-centred arched pedestrian gate.

Interior spaces display sophisticated period decoration throughout. The front hall contains a stone fireplace with four-centred arch and overmantel featuring two tiers of angels (four in total) set in round-headed arches. Early 17th-century style plank and murtin panelling appears alongside two linenfold-panelled doors with strapwork decoration, pilasters with lion-head masks, and cherubs. The main staircase displays Jacobean-style pierced splat balusters and square newel posts with heraldic beasts, beneath a plastered ceiling with strapwork motifs.

The morning room features Queen Anne-style panelling and a fireplace with a wooden surround centring a panel with floral swag and marble insert. The library contains a stone fireplace with an oak overmantel incorporating terms, built-in bookshelves, and a plastered ceiling. The billiard room has a Queen Anne fireplace with bolection-moulded surround, panels above surmounted by broken pediments and pilasters. The dining room displays Queen Anne panelling with dado rail, pilasters, and marble fireplaces.

The first-floor landing incorporates an elaborate window seat with a fretted front concealing original central heating pipes. A bedroom above the dining room retains Queen Anne-style panelling and marble fire surround. Several similar bedrooms exist throughout, one featuring a basket grate to the marble fireplace. Original bathroom fittings remain, and a housemaid's pantry contains a double sink. A second-floor bedroom fireplace features a stone four-centred arch with two round-arched oak panels divided by a term and male mask. A servants' staircase with turned balusters ascends to upper levels. The kitchen retains built-in wooden cupboards.