Lewins The Garden Cottage The Gatehouse The Turret

Lewins, The Gatehouse, The Turret, The Garden Cottage

A large house built circa 1873 by the architect John McKean Brydon (1840–1901) for the stores magnate Peter Robinson. Brydon, who served as chief assistant to Nesfield and Shaw from 1867 to 1869 before establishing his own practice, designed the house in the Domestic Revival style. The building was subdivided into four units during the 1960s.

The house is an asymmetrical structure of two to three storeys with irregular fenestration, constructed principally of red brick laid in Flemish bond with areas of stone, curved tile-hanging, timber-framing with plastered infill, and tiled roofs topped by six tall channelled brick stacks. One of these stacks features panels of sunflowers executed in moulded brick.

The west or entrance front incorporates a two-storey service wing with an archway leading through to the kitchens at the rear. This section has a ground floor of red brick with a tile-hung first floor and two chimneystacks, including an external stack to the left with a stepped gable. The left side displays a two-storey canted bay with timber-framing to the upper part. To the right is an arched entrance beneath a gabled dormer.

The main house adjoins to the right, featuring a three-storey brick tower with a first floor tile-hung oriel containing an Ipswich window. The main entrance sits within a set-back portion of two storeys and attics with three windows; the ground floor is of stone and the first floor tile-hung. Windows throughout are mullioned and transomed casements. A gabled wooden and tiled porch marks the entrance. The end bay of the entrance front rises three storeys, with a timber-framed gable to the second floor and a canted bay through the two lower floors; stone forms the ground floor and tile-hanging the first floor.

The garden front facing south comprises four bays. The left bay has a first floor timber-framed gable with a balcony featuring a wooden balustrade. The set-back second bay includes a dormer with a canted bay and a lean-to conservatory at ground floor level. This is followed by a large timber-framed gable with a coved cornice and, at the corner, a two-storey turret with a canted bay. The east front displays a timber-framed gable and a large projecting wing to the north. A former kitchen of one storey to the east is surmounted by a louvred cupola. Brydon's initials and qualifications appear in a wooden cartouche set into a plastered gable on the east front.

The interior is remarkably fine and complete. The entrance hall measures 40 feet by 12 feet. A lounge measuring 22 feet by 21 feet originally could be divided by a curtain. The hall features a fireplace with swag panels, paterae and eared architraves. The staircase leading off has two turned balusters to each tread and scrolled risers, with square piers crowned by Ionic capitals. The lounge portion contains a fireplace with a band of fasces, brackets and eared architraves, and four Ionic cast iron fluted columns. The morning room has a cornice with egg and dart moulding and Ionic capitals, dado panelling, and a splayed window-seat. The dining room features a mahogany fireplace with eared architraves and a marble chimneypiece decorated with Delft tiles. A south-west ground floor room is finished with a cornice displaying egg and dart moulding.