Awbridge Danes House

A medium-sized country house dating to 1822-5, designed by W Garbett, with subsequent enlargement in the mid-19th century. The style is early Gothic Revival, with later additions in a neo-Tudor style. The building is constructed of stuccoed brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The plan consists of a double range of two storeys, four and five bays, with a rear range (facing a courtyard) one bay shorter at the garden end; a three-gabled wing extends from one side of this rear range, and a later two-and-a-half-storey cross-wing projects from the other end, featuring an entrance on its side and a conservatory on the end of the longer wing. The garden front is symmetrical, originally five bays, with a projecting gable of two-and-a-half storeys on the right and a single-storey, two-bay conservatory on the left. The central bay of the original front projects slightly, containing a two-storey Gothic canted bay, a shallow ground floor verandah behind a French window, and first-floor windows with painted glass and an openwork Gothic balcony above a Gothic parapet with finials. Flanking the central bay are two bays each with transomed three-light windows with hood moulds, and three-light windows on the first floor. Overhanging gables are positioned above each bay, featuring a barge in the centre, coved plaster eaves, carved bargeboards, and finials. The right-hand cross-wing has two transomed three-light windows under hood moulds and an overhanging gable on carved brackets with finials. The left-hand end features a single-storey conservatory of two bays with pointed windows, timber tracery, pilasters, and openwork quatrefoils in the parapet, with gabled corner piers. Chimneys are present on either side of the original centre bay, with rectangular bases and two or three diamond shafts. Similar chimneys are located at the right end of the original part, between the ranges in the center, and at the left end. The rear elevation has the left half as three bays, with the centre bay originally a projecting porch. The right half contains two projecting wings: one with three gabled bays, a narrow centre section (which was the original entrance front on the other side), and another wing of one bay with a large quatrefoil in the gable. The two-and-a-half-storey cross-wing has an attic window. Interior features include early Gothic details such as fireplaces, doors with tracery, and plaster mouldings.