Downingbury Farmhouse

Downingbury Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 18th century, with a possible construction date of 1703. It has undergone minor modern alterations. The ground floor is built of Flemish bond red brick, featuring some burnt headers, with timber framing above that is clad in peg tiles. Brick stacks and chimney shafts rise from the roof, which is covered in peg tiles.

The house has a double-depth plan, facing east-southeast, with front and back rooms on either side of a central entrance hall that contains the staircase. The rooms are heated by end stacks, with the principal rooms located at the front of the house and service rooms to the rear. It is two storeys high, with attic space in the roof and a cellar beneath the north end.

The front elevation is largely original and symmetrical, featuring three original sash windows on each side of the front, and an 8-pane sash window in the centre of the first floor. A central front doorway is accessed by a short flight of stone steps. The original bead-moulded solid doorframe contains a 6-fielded panel door and overlight, retaining original glazing bars, and is topped by a shallow flat hood with moulded edges. A moulded timber eaves cornice runs along the roofline. The main roof is M-shaped, parallel to the front, and has gable ends. Three dormer windows with hipped roofs are visible on the front. The rear elevation is not symmetrical and mostly features 20th-century replacement sash windows; however, the kitchen, at the rear north side, has a 4-light window with an original oak frame and flat-faced mullions. The rear doorway also has an original frame but now contains a 20th-century plank door.

The interior retains a significant amount of original carpentry and joinery detail. A fine original staircase features an open string, moulded newel posts, a moulded flat handrail, slender turned balusters with blocks. Most rooms have original fielded panel doors, and some cupboards have similar doors. The roof is believed to be the original structure, although it was not inspected.

Downingbury Farmhouse is a particularly attractive early 18th-century building that has remained remarkably complete. It is part of a group which includes its former farmbuildings, now in separate occupation: Downingbury Farm Oast, and Downingbury Farm Barn.