Treetops

Treetops is a former farmhouse probably dating from around 1700, with a transverse eastern range possibly added later in the 18th century. An ancillary range was added to the south side of the east range around 1960, and the east range itself was extended towards the end of the 20th century.

The building is constructed of colour-washed red brick with steep-pitched roofs covered with clay tiles. The two-storey eastern range has areas of stone walling and hanging tiles to the upper storey on the north elevation, with weatherboarding on the south elevation. The yellow brick single-storey ancillary range is weatherboarded with felted flat roofs.

The building comprises a principal two-storey range, plus semi-basement, oriented north-south, with a small single-storey link block with a hipped roof at the north end connecting to a two-storey transverse eastern range. The eastern range has a late-20th-century brick-built single-storey extension at the eastern end and a late-20th-century brick and timber-built, flat-roofed, single-storey addition along the south side. These late-20th-century extensions are excluded from the listing as they are not of special interest.

The principal range has lost its original ground-floor divisions and now consists of a single room with an inglenook fireplace at either end. The upper floor has two bedrooms with a bathroom between them, accessed from a central landing on the west side. The single-storey link block is at a lower level and consists of a single room accessed via timber stairs from the north-west corner of the principal range. The two-storey eastern range contains a single room on the ground floor with access through to the single-storey extension, also of one room. The upper floor has two rooms with a stair in the south-east corner.

The front elevation, onto the Old Portsmouth Road, is of three bays with regular fenestration: three windows on the upper floor and windows either side of the central doorway on the ground floor. The windows are set in plain square-headed openings and are modern hardwood units with applied diamond pattern leaded glazing strips. The entrance has a modern timber door and a late-20th-century flat hood with angled timber supports. Exposed sections of brickwork, laid in Flemish bond, show ruled joints to the pointing. The link range at the northern end has an entrance with a modern glazed timber door at a lower level and a single window.

The rear elevation is broadly symmetrical and of three bays with the same window arrangement as the front elevation. The middle upper-floor window was introduced in the late-20th century. The two outer upper-floor window openings have brick segmental arches, with all other openings square-headed. The entrance has a 20th-century tile-covered sloping hood and modern stable door with glazed upper door, reached via a flight of 20th-century concrete and brick steps with flared brick side walls. To the south of the stairs is the entrance to the sub-basement down a flight of steps with a pitched, 20th-century tile-covered porch with timber supports. North of the steps is a two-light timber-framed basement window in a segmental-arched opening. The gable ends have substantial projecting three-stage chimneystacks with tiled shoulders. The southern gable end has windows at each level including the attic. The octagonal ground-floor windows and the first-floor window were introduced in the late-20th century.

The northern elevation of the two-storey eastern range has irregular fenestration with two windows on each storey, which are modern timber casements with transoms in square openings. The upper floor has hanging tiles and there is a triangular buttress to the ground floor at the western end. The southern elevation of the eastern range is encased in the 1960s single-storey ancillary range, which is excluded from the listing.

The ground floor of the main range consists of a single room with inglenook fireplaces at either end. The original partitions have been removed and the original layout lost, although it probably consisted of two rooms off a central hallway with a staircase on the north side as shown on the 1959 plan. The original staircase has been lost and replaced by a modern metal spiral stair. Three of the irregularly spaced cross beams are original with a replacement beam to the north of the entrance, probably introduced when the original staircase was removed. The original beams have crude chamfers. The inglenooks have original bressummers.

The upper floor of the main range has three rooms with exposed, irregularly spaced beams and joists. The joists in the southern room have been recycled, probably from an old wall plate notched to carry the feet of the common rafters. The fireplaces in both end rooms have been infilled. The attic floor is lit by a window in the southern gable and has a floor of wide timber boards. The current roof structure is at least partly constructed of modern tie beams, purlins and raking queen struts.

The sub-basement takes up the whole area of the main block and contains brick relieving arches supporting the end chimney stacks. Most beams and joists are original and are supported in places by later brick piers and dividing walls.

The single-storey link block is reached internally via timber stairs from the north-west corner of the main range. It has a clay tile floor and a fireplace in the north wall without a surround. All fittings are modern. A door in the north wall gives access to the eastern range. The interiors of the rest of the eastern range were not inspected.