Olantigh; Garden Terraces And Stable Block

The house, garden terraces, and stable block were built between 1910 and 1912 by A. Burnett Brown & E.R. Barrow for W.E. Sawbridge-Erle-Drax, incorporating a portico dating from 1768. The main building is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings, featuring a plain tiled roof. It stands on a plinth with rusticated pilaster quoins and a modillion eaves cornice extending to a hipped roof with stacks arranged from left to right. A projecting central Ionic pediment displays the arms of John Sawbridge, Lord Mayor of London in 1775. The front has seven bays with square sash windows on the first floor, featuring lugged segmentally headed and keyed ashlar surrounds. Ground floor glazing bar sashes are set within moulded architraves and cornices on brackets. A central double-panelled door with side lights and a traceried segmental fanlight is flanked by keyed and garlanded niches containing paired sculptures of children, representing the seasons, one signed A. Xavery, 1711. A canted bay extends from the left return side. Rear wings incorporate remnants of an 18th-century mansion extended in the mid-19th century. The interior features a central corridor with a coved ceiling and a balustraded oval top light, alongside fluted Ionic columns. A saloon, accessed via a balustraded balcony from the upper corridor, has an ornate 19th-century ceiling and a large Corinthian screen that currently overlooks the garden, but originally led to a demolished picture gallery (removed in the 1960s). A balustraded staircase includes a half landing. The house replaced a largely destroyed predecessor, which was consumed by fire in 1903; the portico, originally in antis with equally spaced columns, was formerly positioned 70 feet to the east of the larger three-story 18th-century building. 19th-century additions, including towers, gave the house the name Olantigh Towers. Garden terraces and platforms adjoin the main house. A stable block dating from the 18th century is accompanied by a three-stage tower built in the 19th century, immediately to the west of the main house. The architects were generally known for surveying and maintenance work for the Masonic order, and this is considered one of their most significant complete works. The site has been a seat since around 1250, successively belonging to the Kempe, Thornhill (until around 1708), Sawbridge, Erle-Drax, and now Loudon families.