Sandilands And The Backs

House, now subdivided, one part a private house the other a residential house. Circa 1930 for Lord Vestey, by Sir Reginald Blomfield. It is built of red brick in English Bond with a plain tiled roof. The building has an L-shaped plan with a bowed re-entrant and consists of two storeys and an attic on a basement. It features a plinth and a moulded cornice beneath a hipped roof, which has three flat-roofed dormers and stacks positioned at right angles to each other and to the rear. The centre piece projects with four bays and is adorned with giant pilasters. There are five glazing bar sash windows on the first floor and four on the ground floor, with the centre and outer windows featuring keyed heads. The entrance has central double four-panelled doors with a rectangular fanlight, moulded architrave, and a flying cornice, approached by eight moulded steps. The fenestration is regular with glazing bar sashes throughout the rear and return elevations. A wall extends to the north of the main house, about six feet high, enclosing The Backs, which was originally the service wing of the house and has one storey and an attic, a hipped roof, three flat-roofed dormers, and a canted bay to the right with a central glazed door.

Inside, there is heavy bolection moulded panelling in some rooms, with moulded skirting and cornices throughout. The oval rooms in the re-entrant feature enriched lugged fireplaces. The staircase hall has small panel wainscotting and a triple round-headed arcade on one wall, creating two doorways and a central recessed shell-headed niche. The open well stair has a ramped moulded rail and turned balusters. The panelling in this hall is reputed to have come from a chateau owned by Lord Vestey in the Loire and is approximately 200 years old.