Ranston

Ranston is a country house. The west front dates to 1753, while the remainder of the house was rebuilt between 1961 and 1963, incorporating much 18th-century material. The 1753 work was commissioned by Thomas Ryves of Blandford, possibly designed by Ryves himself. The later work was undertaken by Louis Osman.

The house is constructed with rendered walls and ashlar dressings, and has a slate roof concealed behind parapets. Symmetrical moulded ashlar stacks are present. The west front is in the Palladian style, arranged symmetrically over two storeys with basements, and is five bays wide with a 1:3:1 bay arrangement. The central three bays feature a giant order of fluted Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature and pediment. The cornice extends over the outer bay. Rusticated ashlar is used for the basement storey and quoins. The parapet includes sections of open balustrade over the outer bays, and together with the pediment acroterion, is topped with vase finials. The windows are uniform, with 15 panes to the ground floor and 6 panes above. A balustraded double flight of stone steps with a lunette window to the basement is a replica of an earlier staircase removed in the 19th century. The 1961-63 facades maintain a stylistic consistency with the west front.

The east front features a heavily rusticated central doorway surmounted by a Venetian window. Internally, all features are reset. The staircase, dated 1753, has stone steps, a scrolled wrought iron balustrade, and a moulded wooden handrail. The house contains panelled paintings by Casali set within ceilings and walls. The entrance hall has Ionic colonnades, possibly by the Bastards of Blandford. A similar colonnade above features typical Corinthian columns with inwardly curving volutes. Restored rich Rococo plasterwork is also present. In the basement is a reset piscina of uncertain provenance, set under a round arch with egg and dart embellishment. Incorporated into the basement remain the fragments of two 16th or 17th century stone mullioned windows with chamfered jambs and mullions.

Despite extensive rebuilding, the house retains many fine 18th-century features and represents a rare example of the Palladian style in Dorset.