St Albans Court

St Albans Court is a country mansion built between 1875 and 1878 by George Devey for William Oxenden Hammond. It is a building of group value, representing a significant example of Victorian architecture. The ground floor is constructed of ragstone, with a brick upper floor, clearly delineated by a ragged edge. Limestone dressings are used throughout. The house is planned around a north courtyard, exhibiting an Elizabethan style characterised by picturesque irregularity, featuring tall clusters of polygonal stacks, straight-sided gables, and bay windows, some semi-circular and others polygonal.

The main entrance is located within the north U-shaped courtyard, accessed through a four-centred doorway with a dripstone and spandrels, situated within a group of three gabled bays. A polygonal tower with a castellated parapet rises to the southwest of the entrance. Above the doorway is a semi-circular oriel bay window, also with a parapet. The southwest front has a gable arrangement of 1:2:1, with a storeyed, semi-circular bay window positioned in front of the truncated northernmost gable, alongside an adjoining chimney breast. To the south, an 8-light canted bay window is situated in front of the southernmost gable. The southeast elevation features a large gable to the south, followed by a stone doorway and then five gables to the northeast. The left-hand gable is truncated by a chimney breast, while a lofty, transomed and mullioned semi-circular bay window, with a pierced parapet, rises from the junction between the first and second of the five gables, serving as the hall. The northeasternmost gabled bay projects forward. Set back and to the northeast are service wings, including a full-height gabled bay and a tower at the northeast end.

The interior includes a two-storey hall beyond the entrance hall, featuring a gallery on the first floor. Panelled walls and a staircase rise through a lofty, basket-arched doorway on the northwest side. An ornate Jacobean fireplace, originally from Northbourne Court, is adjacent to a lofty bow window. Other interior features include ribbed ceiling panels, panelled walls, fireplace surrounds, and doors. A panelled dining room contains a fine chimney piece also from Northbourne Court. St Albans Court is considered to be among Devey’s finest later houses.