Howe Combe

Small country house built in 1908, designed by T Frank Green. The building displays Arts and Crafts styling with irregular elevations executed in flint with red brick dressings and a hipped plain tile roof.

The plan is organised around a central entrance hall flanked by dining and sitting rooms, served by a rear corridor. A stair wing is positioned to the rear right, with a service wing to the rear left that leads through to a service courtyard. The building is 2 storeys with attic accommodation.

The south-west elevation, which is the entrance front, has an irregular 2:1:2 bay arrangement. Near the centre stands a gabled 2-storey porch with a brick plinth, reached by a brick step. The entrance comprises a round-arched double door with moulded panels and decorative furniture, with tile imposts and voussoirs to the stepped brick arch. Flanking gableted pilasters support a tiled hood. Above the door is a 3-light window within a keyed brick arch, all set within a recessed panel. The tiles in the gable are inscribed "AD 1908 AHD & ASD". To the right of the porch are two 2-light windows on each floor and one dormer. To the left is a 2-light window, two 1-light windows above and one dormer. A decorative external stack, semi-octagonal on plan, stands to their left, with tiled offsets, triangular-section pilasters bearing attached brick finials and three clay pots. A blind bay under a sloping roof is positioned furthest to the left. The roof oversails with exposed rafter feet; a ridge stack sits to the right of the porch.

The left return has a 1:3:1:1 bay arrangement. The central 3-bay section features 2-light windows, a single dormer, and a broad cross-ridge stack on the left. The flanking single-storey bays sit under cat-slide roofs, each with a 1-light window. The wider right-hand bay projects under a hipped roof and contains a 2-storey 5-light bow window with deep cornice and flat roof.

The service courtyard projects from this elevation on the left as a single-storey range with two 2-light hipped dormers.

The right return shows a 2-bay return of the main range featuring a 2-storey 5-light bow window on the left and a recessed chimney bay on the right with a corbelled stack on the first floor. The return itself comprises 2 bays under a half-hipped roof with a small 3-light attic window. The left bay has two 1-light ground-floor windows and a 3-light window above, all set within a round-arched recess. The right bay is a curved stair bay dominated by a 7-light double-transomed window with a tile offset below and conical roof above.

The service wing displays 1-light first-floor windows and two dormers. A 7-bay colonnade fronts this range, linking it to the service courtyard. The colonnade features wooden posts arch-braced to the wall-plate, a pent tile roof, herring-bone brick paving, and a decorative open-work gable to the right bay, which has a board door to the service courtyard and a bell. The left two bays are now glazed to form part of the kitchen. The service range continues to the right with board doors and small-pane windows, interrupted by two gabled projections with 20th-century infill between them. Within the service courtyard is a wooden colonnade, partly infilled in the 20th century, fronting various outbuildings with board doors and small-pane windows. A decorative iron double gate at the south-west corner is hung from brick pilasters.

Throughout the building, decorative features in the Arts and Crafts manner include rusticated brick quoins, bands, surrounds and chimney caps, decorative use of tile-on-edge, wooden leaded casement windows (transomed on the ground floor), 3-light dormers with hipped roofs and tile-hung cheeks, and decorative dated hoppers to the rainwater pipes.

The interior remains largely unaltered, retaining original woodwork including skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. Doors are panelled with decorative ironware. Window seats, cupboards and closets are distributed throughout. Fireplaces feature glazed brick surrounds with decorative architraves.

The dining and sitting rooms have moulded coffered ceilings and wide ingle-nook style fireplaces with decorative iron stoves. The dining room contains an elaborate buffet and cupboards. The sitting room features a peacock tile frieze to the fireplace with a pilastered surround and ingle-seats.

The entrance hall features a decorative iron chandelier and a stencilled compass to the ceiling. The stair is a dog-leg arrangement with a landing in a window, turned newels, a moulded hand-rail, and a decorative iron lantern.

The first floor includes a linen cupboard off the corridor. Numerous closets throughout have brass hooks and rails with vented doors. Windows in the rear corridor have pilastered surrounds.