The Old Rectory, Compton

The Old Rectory, Compton, is a purpose-built rectory completed in 1915 and designed by architect Walter Sarel in the Arts and Crafts Surrey Vernacular Revival style. It was built for the Rector of St. Nicholas Church, Compton, and is now a house.

The building is constructed in red brick laid in Sussex bond with tile-hanging of alternate rectangular and curved tiles, a tiled roof and brick chimneystacks. It features wooden casement windows with leaded lights throughout, and incorporates some reused timbers.

The plan is asymmetrical, with principal rooms arranged in a roughly L-shaped western part and an additional spur extending to the north-east containing the service end. The main entrance is positioned on the north side, with a tradesman's entrance to the east. The south-facing garden front includes a garden entrance from the drawing room and a separate parish entrance to the south-west. The ground floor accommodates a staircase hall with a gallery, dining room, drawing room, study and a series of service rooms. The first floor contains four bedrooms, a dressing room and a bathroom, while the attics house three staff bedrooms.

The north entrance front is divided into three sections. To the east, the roof features two hipped dormers swept down over a single storey with a casement window. Further west is a recessed porch with an oak door with carved vertical panels, a two-light casement to the right and a four-light window to the left in the angle, with a wooden seat below. The central section has a projecting tile-hung gable with a tall external brick chimneystack with crow steps near the base, a casement window to both attic and first floor, and a seven-light casement window projecting forward of the tile-hanging under a hipped roof. To the west is a single-storey projecting service wing with a casement window, a round-headed arch in the centre leading to a recess with three entrances with plank doors, and a wooden shutter further east for delivering coal.

The west side features a large projecting two-storey gable, the upper part tile-hung with a four-light casement window and the lower part of brick with a six-light bay window under a hipped roof. To the south is a wide plank door with a side-light, originally a separate entrance for parishioners. The projecting gable is pierced by a massive tapering external brick chimneystack with a crow-stepped gable to the base and a square ribbed chimney above with moulded base and top.

The south or garden front comprises three bays with a tile-hung first floor over a brick ground floor, beneath a hipped tiled roof with a hipped dormer. The first floor has three symmetrically-placed casement windows: a central four-light window flanked by five-light windows. The ground floor western bay is flush with the upper floor and has a four-light casement window. The central bay features a garden entrance with plank door flanked by two narrow round-headed lights, and to the west is a canted bay window with a seven-light mullioned and transomed window.

The east side, also of three bays, is tile-hung on the first floor and of brick on the ground floor, beneath a hipped roof with a dormer. The southern bays have three-light casements with a casement window to the ground floor of the south bay. The northern bay has a gable with a four-light casement window on the first floor, a seven-light window in the central bay interrupted by a service entrance with a plank door, and a five-light mullioned and transomed window to the north bay. To the north is the south side of the service wing with a number of entrances. A long brick wall with a moulded cornice provides a screen between the garden and the service entrance.

The main entrance to the north leads directly into a full-height staircase hall with oak reused timbers including a wall-plate, an oak well staircase with stick balusters and square newel posts, a gallery and a series of plank doors lining the corridors on the ground and first floors. A screen with splat balusters separates the main staircase from the former service staircase behind.

The inside of the dining room door has a strap-work pattern. The fireplace features a 16th-century reused oak bressumer with carved spandrels, with either Tudor roses or possibly the escarbuncle symbol of the Duchy of Cleves in the corners and a cross in the centre. The bressumer is supported on unrelated reused timbers with flanking cupboards. A window seat is set within the seven-light square bay window.

The drawing room has a raised frieze with honeysuckle motifs and lettering reading 'This Rectory was built in the fifth year of the reign of GvR'. The fireplace has a wide elliptical arch with a brick fireplace surround and a small leaded light window in the alcove behind. The rector's study has a four-centred arched stone fireplace and can be accessed from outside by a separate parishioner's entrance. The service end retains the original separate room divisions, including scullery, larder and kitchen, with original doors, an enunciator and iron bell. The principal bedroom has a brick fireplace and two built-in cupboards with carved doors, with inter-connecting doors to what was either a dressing room or a nursery. Other bedrooms retain original fireplaces and built-in cupboards, and there is also a large linen press with carved doors. Access to the attic by the half-winder service staircase leads to three staff bedrooms with smaller fireplaces. Original doors include an arched entrance.

The house is situated within a large plot. To the west of the house is a well head also designed by Walter Sarel, comprising a cylindrical brick structure raised approximately 1 metre above ground level with brick ribs and stone coping, protected by a decorative iron grille.