The Long House or 62 Strand Street

The Long House, 62 Strand Street

This timber-framed house was erected between 1562 and 1578 on land formerly belonging to Christ Church Priory Canterbury, possibly for local ship owner and merchant John Gilbert. In the late 18th or early 19th century it was substantially altered, with a new front added, windows replaced, a new staircase inserted and internal refurbishment carried out. A single-storey brick garage of later 20th-century date stands on the north-west side and is not of special interest.

The building is timber-framed with brick nogging. The Strand Street range has been re-fronted in stucco, while the south-east side is tile-hung above a stuccoed ground floor. The rear elevation is mainly of Flemish bond brown brick with some tile-hanging to the first floor. The roof is tiled with end hips and gablets to the front range and four brick chimneystacks.

The plan is roughly T-shaped, originally of two storeys. The ground floor originally contained four main rooms: a western parlour, an adjoining hall probably of three bays, a separate entrance passage leading to the rear kitchen, and an unheated room possibly for service use to the east. A projecting wing extended to the rear beside an eastern stair turret, with a possible further stair turret on the west side. Three of the four first floor chambers were heated. This plan was modified by the insertion of a new staircase at the back of the front range in the late 18th or early 19th century.

The south-west principal front retains its continuous jetty beneath the stucco re-facing and features a parapet and reeded cornice. The first floor has four mid-19th-century sash windows with vertical glazing bars, horns and moulded cornices. The ground floor has six similar windows and two recessed doorcases with rectangular fanlights and panelled doors. Below is a plinth with two iron foot scrapers.

The south-east side has a stuccoed ground floor and tile-hung first floor, with a later 20th-century casement to the ground floor.

The north-east or rear elevation's eastern end is clad in brick with an external chimney stack and features a lean-to stair turret of late 17th or early 18th-century date with exposed timber-framing, including jowled post and stretcher bond brick nogging. The large full-height projecting gabled wing of two storeys and attic is stuccoed on the first floor of its south-east return but otherwise of Flemish bond brickwork; some windows have elliptical arches. A section of the first floor further west is tile-hung with a sash window, and the ground floor is single-storeyed with a late 20th-century flat roof. The north-west side is largely obscured by the single-storey 20th-century brick garage with a penticed tiled and pantiled roof.

Internally, the west parlour, now used as a dining room, retains 16th-century cross braces to the ceiling but was substantially refurbished in the late 18th or early 19th century with a moulded cornice and full-height panelling on the north-west wall. This panelling incorporates a round-headed arched china cabinet with serpentine shelves, pilasters and keystone, a moulded fire surround with a panelled overmantel and a matching round-headed doorcase with keystone, pilasters and panelled doors. The other walls have dado panels of short over tall panels and a six-panelled door.

The adjoining hall, now used as a drawing room, has late 16th-century ceiling beams but an 18th-century plaster cornice. It retains a 16th-century carved wooden bressumer to the fireplace.

The rear kitchen has 16th-century cross beams to the ceiling and exposed timbers, probably the remains of a jetty.

Access to the upper floor is provided either by the eastern late 17th or early 18th-century winder staircase in the east stair turret, which has exposed wall framing and thick square balusters to the handrail, or by the late 18th or early 19th-century straight flight staircase with carved tread ends in the main hall.

The west chamber has cross beams to the ceiling and an exposed wall frame with a curved tension brace, midrail and studs. The east and west walls feature grisaille wall paintings dating to circa 1570, depicting griffins, fruit and flowers including Tudor roses, with some surviving original colouring.

Another chamber has an exposed wall frame and embossed patterned pargetting. A further chamber has cross beams to the ceiling and borders stamped with narrow bands of embossed pargetting. A fourth room has a late 18th or early 19th-century panelled fire surround and dado panelling identical to that in the parlour.

The main roof originally formed a usable space. The original main rear slope survives with clasped side purlins, ogee-braced wind braces and rafters. The east wing has a sling-brace truss.

The cellar is reputed to date from 1253 and is said to contain a blocked-off passage which originally led to the quay.