East Court

East Court

A large villa designed by Ernest George and Harold Peto in 1889–1890 for Sir William Wills, later Lord Winterstoke. The house is built of red brick laid in Flemish bond with green Westmorland slate covering the walls of the first floor and attic and the roof, finished with timber and moulded brick dressings. The structure incorporates cavity walls as protection against damp from its southerly aspect towards the sea.

The building is arranged over two storeys with an attic. The principal ground floor rooms are grouped around a large living hall with the main staircase to its north. The entrance corridor and porch occupy the east side, while the drawing room, study and library face south, and the dining room and former billiard room are positioned to the west. A service wing extends northward on the eastern side, with principal bedrooms at first floor level also oriented towards the south and west.

The south front facing the sea displays three bays at ground floor level. The left and right bays are angled bay windows with arched central lights in the manner of Sparrow's House, Ipswich. The central bay contains a Serlian window. The left bay continues at first floor level, but a jetty projects to the right with a deep recessed balcony to the centre, featuring exposed oak posts and balustrade. Further right stands an oriel window supported on oak brackets. Above this, deep eaves occupy the left portion while the centre and right bays rise to an attic storey projecting on another deep jetty. A continuous twelve-light oriel window with oak bracket supports runs across both, beneath which sit two projecting gables faced with fishscale slates. Between these gables is a metal hopper bearing the initials 'WHW'. A chimney stack astride the ridge at left displays moulded bands and a blind arcade to its sides.

The western front facing the garden comprises three gabled bays. The leftmost projects with an angled bay featuring an arched central light at ground floor level, positioned beneath an overhanging first floor containing an oriel window supported on oak brackets and an overhanging gable. To the right extends an open veranda with a lean-to roof supported on square oak posts with moulded brackets at the top. The first floor has two mullioned and transomed three-light windows above which rise two jettied gables. All three gables on this front are faced with fishscale slates. Slightly recessed at the left is the single-storey billiard room, which has a pair of half-glazed doors flanked by single lights set beneath a moulded brick pedimented panel. This block possesses a parapet ramping up at either side with a ball finial at the left.

The eastern front features a broad projecting chimney stack at the left with offsets and a small window to its bottom right, topped by a blind arch supported on moulded brick brackets. To the right stands the entrance porch, styled as a lych gate with oak gates and a gabled roof with exposed oak carpentry. The porch flanks contain glazed panels to the upper walls with circular stained-glass quarries. First floor windows are three and four-light casements, and a gabled oriel projects at attic level. A single-storey service wing extends to the right.

Interior

The entrance corridor on the east side features a marble floor with coloured border, panelled walls and a screen with stained glass panes separating it from the staircase hall. The screen bears the words 'PRO ARIS / ET FOCIS' (for altars and hearths). The hall, serving as an extension of the reception rooms, has a variegated marble floor with red marble borders and wooden panelling to its lower walls. The southern fireplace has an arched opening with a wooden overmantel displaying loosely Jacobean pilasters. The open-well staircase has panelled newels with Jacobean-style finials and turned balusters. The mullioned and transomed window on the half landing contains stained glass panels representing the four seasons with a central image of Ceres. Above are the initials of William Henry Wills and his wife, Elizabeth Perkins Wills, flanked by representations of tobacco flowers (Nicotiana Tabacum) and sunflowers (Helianthus Annuus).

The drawing room, facing west over the garden and south towards the sea, is L-shaped with panelled walls, a moulded plaster ceiling and parquet flooring. Above the hearth, recessed in a ceiling panel, is an original electric light fitting with frosted glass panels and a metal frame.

The study has dark wood panelling to the lower walls and fitted bookcases designed by the architect. The larger library similarly has fitted bookcases, a beamed ceiling with decorative plaster panels, and both rooms feature an overmantel with Jacobean pilasters as in the entrance hall.

The dining room displays light oak panelling to the lower walls and a full-height fireplace and overmantel. To the eastern wall is a fitted sideboard designed by the architect with glazed cupboards to its upper body. The ceiling has wooden beams and plaster panels. A door at the south-western corner leads to the veranda on the western front.

The former billiard room has been converted to a kitchen. The walls and ceiling are panelled with a deep quadrant coving rising to a central rectangular lantern. Part of the panelling has been replaced by a tiled splashback and the floor relaid with marble tiles, though the original fire surround and hearth remain in place.

Several service rooms retain original fitted cupboards, shelves and hearths. The butler's pantry, now a utility room, has a new fixed dresser and flooring, though the original plate safe survives. The plaster has been removed from the walls and ceiling of the original kitchen. The former wood and coal stores have been reconfigured to form a cloakroom and lobby to a garden entrance. Original service ducts with trapdoors let into the floor survive in various rooms, as do electric fuse boxes recessed in walls with wooden surrounds and wire mesh door panels. In the corners of several rooms are boxed-in enclosures with flap lids, believed to be 'Tobin' tubes for ventilation.

The first floor landing contains a fire surround fitted in the early 21st century. First floor bedrooms have simple cornices and second floor bedrooms mostly retain their original fireplaces. The master bedroom, above the drawing room, has a window seat and an imported fire surround.