Aldwick Hundred

Aldwick Hundred is a late Arts and Crafts detached house in Neo-Tudor style, built circa 1928 by architect Edwin Davidson for W F Watson, a director of Rolls-Royce. The house was extended in the mid-1930s in matching style and materials, probably by the same architect.

The building is constructed of brick in Flemish bond with timber-framing and plastered infill. Windows are bronze-framed with leaded lights throughout. Hoppers and downpipes are constructed from lead. The roofs are tiled with three tall moulded and clustered brick chimneystacks.

The original plan was rectangular with projections to the north and south, comprising two storeys and attics. The ground floor contained three reception rooms and a staircase hall, with bedrooms above. The mid-1930s extension added a triangular-shaped garage and billiard room on the ground floor with bedrooms above on the north-east side, and a single-storey sun room extension on the south-west side, now used as a games room.

The north-west entrance front is predominantly brick with a brick string course between floors. The roof features two side gablets with half-hipped dormers with timber gables. An asymmetrical timber-framed projection with curved braces breaks through both storeys, featuring two irregularly-sized carved gables with pendants. The carved wooden barge-boards incorporate trefoil and quatrefoil motifs and carved grotesque masks. At the centre is a five-light first floor casement window with trefoil heads and hexagonal leaded lights, incorporating three stained glass armorial shields. Below stands an oak doorcase with a segmental, penticed weather hood supported on massive brackets, a studded plank door with dragon door knocker, and three casement windows with hexagonal panes. Each end has two drainpipes with elaborate lead hoppers, one dated 1614 with the initials J T. A single-bay two-storey link block leads to an angled two-storey and attic M-shaped double timber-framed gable with carved and cusped barge-boards with pendants, mullioned windows to each floor, and a segmental-arched garage entrance below.

The south-east garden front features two hipped dormers with triple casements and a continuous hip, interrupted by a projecting two-storey and attic timber-framed M-shaped double gable with carved barge-boards and a five-light window with hexagonal lead panes, supported on the ground floor on two circular sandstone columns. The first floor has two further mullioned windows. The ground floor displays a bay window with hexagonal panes to the drawing room on the left, a smaller central casement with segmental arch to the dining room, and a five-light window with segmental arch to a wide Tudor-arched doorcase. This links to the north-eastern wing which has a series of timber-framed gables.

The staircase hall interior features oak plank and muntin panelling with a frieze and a series of panelled oak doorcases in Tudor arches with spandrels bearing blank shields and willow decoration. An elaborate Gothic-style carved radiator case occupies one end. The straight-flight staircase has square newel posts with guilloche moulding and urn finials, carved arches to the balustrade, dado rail, and a segmental-shaped gallery with five carved heads. An elaborate Gothic-style carved oak screen adjoins the staircase. The ceiling has a cross beam with eagle carving to the brackets.

The drawing room contains chamfered oak axial beams, a built-in window seat, and original oak parquet floors. The fire surround was added later. The dining room also has chamfered oak axial beams, a marble bolection fireplace, a built-in curved corner cupboard, original oak parquet floors, and an ornamental oak radiator case. The service end retains its original room divisions, though fittings are of later 20th-century date.

The master bedroom features a Neo-Georgian fireplace with cast iron firegrate, a door glazed with Art Deco design depicting cloud, sun and sea in leaded panes, a built-in window seat, and built-in wardrobes with Tudor-arched doors. Another bedroom has a wooden fire surround and built-in cupboards, whilst a third has a cast iron fireplace and built-in cupboards. Bathrooms retain original mirrored cabinets.

A narrower staircase with plain newel posts and balustrading leads to the attic, which has two built-in window seats and a brick fireplace with a cast iron fire back dated 1935 bearing the initials W F W and J W (the original owners). The former service rooms above the garage have plainer painted panelled doors, a brick fireplace, and built-in cupboards.