Belfield House

Belfield House

A country house of circa 1775, designed by John Crunden and built by Isaac Buxton for his wife, standing in its own grounds. The southeast front and Drawing Room were reconstructed in the early 19th century, and a conservatory was added in the late 19th century.

The house is constructed of Portland stone basement with main walls of yellow brick in Flemish bond, stone dressings, and some rendering, beneath a slate roof. It follows a late classical design with a simple plan organised around a principal single-depth room on each side of a geometrical staircase, backed by an octagonal salon. A portico of giant Ionic columns stands on the basement. The rear of the house faces southwest and opens to a full-width glazed conservatory built at the main floor level, overlooking the remains of a formal garden layout.

The building is of two storeys and basement. The entrance front to the northeast has windows arranged 1:3:1. The rusticated basement contains wide 6-pane sashes flanking a central pair of part-glazed doors beneath the portico, with a similar sash on each side. The tetrastyle Ionic portico is approached by a quadrant of 16 stone steps with nosings and iron railings, and carries a full entablature and pediment. The main wall features Doric responds to the outer columns. At piano nobile are large Palladian windows beneath brick arches with brick tympana, with Portland stone Doric half-columns and responds on a sill band, with aprons divided by plain pilasters. Above are near-square 6-pane sashes beneath a necking band and on a sill band. The centre contains tall 6-pane sashes flanking a wide panelled door with 9-pane glazing in a moulded architrave with entablature, surmounted by 3 blind oculi. At first floor are three 4-pane sashes with necking and sill bands. Panelled pilasters with stepped plinths flank each end of the front. Deep stacks rise either side of the centre.

The northwest front is in yellow brick with a lunette to the full-width pediment, above three 6-pane sashes with head and sill bands. At piano nobile are 3 tall 12-pane sashes recessed in arched brick panels. The basement has three 6-pane sashes, and to the right the conservatory at first floor stands above a wide arched opening containing a door and side-lights.

The rebuilt southeast front is rendered with a full-width pediment on a lunette above 3 wide 6-pane sashes. The piano nobile features a large tripartite 10:18:10-pane sash to a balcony on paired brackets and 4 very slender cast-iron shafts, beneath a tent hood with lattice supports, with 6-pane sashes to the basement. The rear elevation faces steeply rising ground with sets of steps and has a projecting 3-sided centre section with 6-pane sashes, the central one blind, with keystones and brick voussoirs on a sill band, a 2-course brick eaves band, moulded cornice and blocking-course. Beneath, mostly concealed by the conservatory, are broad brick arches over recessed panels each side of the octagon, which opens to the conservatory via a pair of French doors. The full-length wood-framed conservatory has gabled ends with finials; the roof at the northwest end, above kitchens and service rooms, has a felted tile finish, while the remainder is glazed. Transom lights contain tinted glass. Below the terrace, extending from the conservatory, is a rendered wall with various windows including a wide tripartite sash.

The interior, not inspected for this record, was described by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England as containing a geometrical stair with stone treads and wrought-iron balusters to a mahogany handrail, with a moulded cornice to the well. The upper landing has paired columns with attic bases and enriched capitals supporting a moulded cornice. The Drawing Room retains a reeded plaster cornice, white marble fireplace, and 19th-century reeded architraves to doors and windows. The Dining Room features an 18th-century moulded cornice, doors and fire surround, with a shell-pattern cast-iron grate of circa 1840. The Octagon Room has an 18th-century moulded plaster cornice and door surrounds, with a fireplace whose yellow marble architrave has reeded white marble borders and a central elliptical painted medallion.

The house retains most of its original detail and is architecturally fine. It formerly stood within extensive grounds, now largely developed with 20th-century detached houses. The architect John Crunden is better known for his design of Boodles Club in London. The former coachhouse and stables remain at No. 60 Buxton Road, since converted to dwellings.