Willey Place East Wing And Flats 1 And 2

Willey Place, East Wing and Flats One and Two

A large house now subdivided. The East Wing dates from the 18th century, but the main part of Willey Place is early 19th century with later 19th-century extensions.

Exterior

The entrance front faces north-west. The centre comprises a three-storey, three-bay block of early 19th-century date with a ground floor of later 19th-century date. It has a colourwashed rendered front and slate hipped roof with brick chimneystacks. Sash windows are three panes wide; the second floor has two windows; the first floor has two flanking windows either side of a tall central window which extends through the first floor and rises into the second-floor space.

A later 19th-century addition comprises extra rooms built onto the ground-floor front. The centre has a projecting round-headed porch flanked on either side by a round-headed window with radiating glazing pattern. The doorway and windows are both flanked by pilasters with entablature and blocking course over, with the latter rising above the centre bay to form a triangular panel. There is a two-panelled door with a plain semi-circular fanlight. Three further later 19th-century bays lie to the north-east. These have sash windows three panes wide with moulded architrave frames, each flanked by pilasters and with moulded entablature over. A slate roof rises to form a pentice with the roof of a two-storey early 19th-century wing (visible from the garden front) to the north-east of the centre block, which has two flat-roofed dormers. A further bay to the left was demolished at the time of inspection. A former one-storey later 19th-century block to the north-west with French casement, sidelights, window over, and lean-to conservatory was demolished at the time of inspection.

The garden front faces south-east. The centre block (early 19th century) comprises three bays and three storeys with a basement. Two south-western window bays to the left hand are bowed. The slate hipped roof is rendered. A dentil eaves cornice runs across. Windows are three panes wide in reveals. French casements with margin lights on the ground floor are in the two left-hand bays; early 19th-century iron balconies are fitted to the first-floor windows in the same bays. The second-floor window in the right-hand bay has a four-light modern casement with a modern French casement on the ground floor. Doors within are of contemporary date with six reeded panels.

To the left of the centre block is a tall one-storey block of probably early 19th-century date. It has a hipped slate roof, dentil eaves, and rendered front. Two square blind panels are above. On the ground floor, a tall French casement is flanked by louvred shutters, with a window two panes high by four panes wide above.

To the right of the centre block is a lower two-storey, one-bay block with slate gabled roof of brick, once painted. A bowed three-light sash window with glazing bars intact is on the first floor, and a late 20th-century glazed addition is below. Adjacent to this, a two-storey wing runs south-east, now called the East Wing, said to contain the core of the earlier house. Its brick front, formerly painted, has a slate roof and rendered gable end with a triangular brick buttress in English bond. It comprises four bays with irregular fenestration including two segmental-headed sash windows with thick glazing bars on the ground floor. In the south-east gable end is a double sash window, each part three panes wide, with fluted panelled shutters below and one segmental-headed sash window beneath that.

The north-west front is rendered with a hipped tiled roof, a 16-pane cambered sash to the first floor, a 12-pane sash to the ground floor, and a four-panelled door with the top two panels glazed. Attached to the north-east are Flats One and Two, mainly of red brick with tiled roof, central brick chimneystack, and sashes with cambered heads.

Interior

The front hall has a moulded cornice and an elaborate wooden doorcase with brackets, chevron and fluted patterned frieze. There is a similar, wider doorcase with a six-panelled door and a red and black stone floor. The billiard room retains window shutters, a deeply moulded cornice, and a black marble fireplace. The staircase hall lost its original curved staircase in a fire, but the black stone floor with marble dots remained, along with a six-panelled door. The dining room has a fireplace with wooden bolection moulding, panelling with dado rail, and a moulded cornice. The lounge has an early 19th-century fireplace with pilasters and paterae, an elliptical alcove, a plastered cornice with leaf moulding, and internal window shutters. The drawing room has an ovolo-moulded cornice and an 18th-century wooden fireplace with a central panel decorated with an urn and leaf ornament, corner panels with musical instruments, and fluted pilasters with rams' heads. It contains two six-panelled doors. The cellar has brick vaults and brick floors. At the time of inspection, the rooms to the upper floors of the central block had been destroyed by fire, with only a 19th-century firegrate in an end wall visible.