Preston Hall

Preston Hall stands as a country house in a landscaped park on Culpeper Road. Built in 1850 by architect John Thomas for Edward Betts, it was designed in the neo-Elizabethan style. From 1945 to 2012 the building served as a hospital, and was subsequently converted into flats in 2015.

The house is constructed of coursed dressed stone with ashlar dressings, strings and main cornice. The roof is plain and fish-scale slate with irregular stacks and octagonal chimneys on square pedestals. The parapets and Dutch-type gables feature gable parapets with urns.

The south front comprises a central block that is symmetrical about a central 4-storey balustraded tower with gabled end projections. The main elevation is 2 storeys with attics across 5 bays. The transom and mullion windows appear in all bays except the outer bays on the ground and first floors, which have octagonal projecting bays topped by bracketed cornices. Lunette-topped semi-dormers with shell decoration in the lunettes occupy the intermediate bays. The tower has a bracketed cornice with a range of square windows below. A large cross-window with bracketed cornice, supported on stud-banded Corinthian pilasters, sits on the second floor. The tower is octagonal at this level, with the transition effected by corner urn-like elements above the main cornice. A large first floor aedicule with bracketed cornice rests on doubled stud-banded Corinthian pilasters. The central ground floor porte-cochere stands on double banded columns and pedestals with bracketed cornice moulding, flanked by scutcheons and griffins. Behind it is a central arched door surround with double panelled doors and arched overlight.

To the left is a symmetrical wing of 3 bays with further wings extending leftward. This section is 2 and a half storeys with semi-dormers. A gabled projection contains a canted octagonal oriel on the first floor. The windows are 6 and 4-light transom and mullion types. A stable block wing projects at right angles to the left, with a central arched entrance to a stable court topped by a diagonally-placed octagonal tower with broached cupola and flanking gables. This stable wing is 1 and a half storeys tall, featuring 6 windows with a Dutch-type gabled projection to the left and a second Dutch-type gable to the right. Semi-dormers with small Dutch-type gables surmount the remaining bays. Tall triple octagonal stacks rise behind the main ridge. The windows here are 1, 2 and 3-light transom and mullion types. The stable courtyard behind has been much altered.

The north front is 2 and a half storeys, with a tall 2-storey central projecting bay topped by an octagonally-hipped roof appearing over a balustrade, decorated with heraldic and floral elements at cornice level. This bay is flanked by intermediate bays and smaller 2-storey bays beyond. Low wings to the right mask the stable court. Two towers flank this elevation: that to the left is octagonal with an ogee dome, while that to the right is square with a balustrade.

Internally, the vestibule is articulated by applied three-quarter columns supporting a full entablature. Niches occupy the centre of the side walls, flanked by windows. Doors are similarly flanked by windows, all with blocked arched surrounds and lozenge decoration. A ribbed ceiling rises above, with each rib resting on a volute bracket with shield. The hall is galleried with a pierced balustrade and clerestoried vault. A 2-light open-well stair rises to the left. The dining room has a wooden panelled ceiling with arched trusses on carved corbels of figureheads; panels between are stencilled. This room has been divided horizontally to provide 2 rooms. The library features wooden carved panelling with book shelves with moulded fronts, and a wooden and marble fireplace supporting a mirror in a wooden surround, all highly decorated. Four stained glass upper window panes sit in a bow. A side room contains moulded wooden panelling, a fire surround, a large book cabinet and a neo-Elizabethan moulded plaster ceiling. The first floor stair is a single flight rising from the top of the main stairs, barrel-vaulted with a wooden-arched architrave, wooden panelling and ribs with plaster infilling.

Preston Hall replaced an earlier house that was built and continuously remodelled on the site. Its form is known from an engraving by Kip dating to 1720 and from various paintings and engravings dating to around 1750, including one by Godfrey. John Thomas also designed Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk (1840) for Morton Peto, Edward Betts's business partner.