Dornden Innerdown Middle House

This is a late 19th-century house, originally said to have been built for Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria. It was extensively altered and largely rebuilt in 1925 to the designs of Compton Hall, in an eclectic Vernacular Revival style. The house has been divided into three separate dwellings: Dornden to the west, Middle House in the centre, and Innerdown to the east.

The original construction used local sandstone roughly brought to course, with ashlar dressings. The 1925 additions are primarily in stretcher bond brick, with some stone buttresses, timber-framed details, and a peg-tile roof. The house is oriented south-facing.

The building has a roughly rectangular plan, though Dornden and Innerdown have less regular, asymmetrical blocks. Middle House contains the principal rooms including the stair hall and includes both a front and a rear porch.

The south front is asymmetrical with nine windows. The central entrance block (Middle House) is stone-faced and slightly set back, featuring three symmetrical bays with a moulded eaves cornice. A two-storey projecting porch, designed in a C17 style, is centrally located, with Corinthian pilasters and a nowy-headed parapet topped with a ball finial. It has an elliptical arched doorway with Tudor-style spandrels, a glass-panelled door, and a nowy-headed panel with a moulded string course above. Stone mullioned windows with square leaded panes are present in the porch and flanking bays; the ground floor windows have high transoms. There are two attic dormers with segmental arched heads. A brick gabled projection with buttresses and close-studded framing is located to the left of the entrance block; it features flat-faced timber mullion and transom windows with square leaded panes. To the extreme left is a two-bay brick block in a Queen Anne style, with a dentil cornice and segmental-headed attic dormer. To the right of the porch block is a similar Queen Anne style block with matching windows and cornice. The right end has a one-bay battlemented stone block with a two-storey canted bay with sash windows. The rear elevation continues in the same style, with stone mullioned windows to Middle House, including a four-light stair window with two transoms. A gabled rear porch features a moulded elliptical doorway with a ball finial and a plank door with strap hinges. The east return is also irregular, with a mixture of brick and stone and mullioned windows. A corbelled first-floor stack is on the east side of the battlemented block.

The entrance hall in Middle House is lined with oak panelling and retains a Jacobean-style stair, likely dating from the original construction phase. This staircase features a closed string, turned balusters, a moulded flat handrail, and square newels. Other interior features from both phases may still be present.