South Lytchett Manor (Lytchett Middle School)

South Lytchett Manor, now part of Lytchett Middle School, is a country house dating back to the early 19th century, significantly remodelled around 1904 by the architect W D Caröe. The house is constructed of Ham Stone ashlar with hipped slate roofs, featuring deep modillion eaves cornices and stone stacks shaped like Tuscan columns. It is built in an Edwardian Baroque style.

The house is two storeys and has attics. The entrance front is asymmetrical, composed of a central block flanked by wings. The central block originally had an enclosed, pedimented portico on the ground floor, since replaced with a round-headed window between Tuscan columns and solid piers. Flanking this are Venetian windows with glazing bars. Above, a recessed niche with a curved pediment supported by paired Ionic columns and surmounted by a carved owl serves as a focal point. The first floor has double-hung sash windows, with a tripartite window in the attic. Bowed aprons accompany double-hung sash windows on either side of the attic window. A moulded string course runs along the first floor. Flat-roofed dormers flank the central attic feature.

The north wing is two storeys high and has a balustraded parapet. It features a Venetian window on the ground floor and a cross-pattern window on the first floor. Adjacent to this is a kitchen wing with rough cast walls and a slate roof.

The south wing is two storeys and attic height, with C20 glazed entrance doors. A double-hung sash window is located on the first floor, and a pedimented dormer sits in the attic. A projecting single-storeyed wing with a balustraded parapet extends south of this, featuring a central pediment on paired Tuscan pilasters and a round-headed window. A cupola is centrally positioned on the roof.

The garden front has a central block of two storeys and attics. A five-bay loggia on the ground floor incorporates rusticated arches and Tuscan pilasters. Five double-hung sash windows are positioned on the first floor, each with a broken pediment. Three pedimented dormers are present in the attic. Flanking wings are single-storeyed with balustraded parapets, each containing three round-headed windows separated by Tuscan pilasters.

Internally, the original entrance hall is aisled, with Tuscan columns and a painted glass dome. An inner hall is vaulted, and the main hall has a gallery. The Headmaster's room has a plaster ceiling in a 16th-century style and a frieze modelled on the Parthenon. Other main ground floor rooms feature carved panelling and chimney pieces. C20 rear extensions are present, but are not considered to be of group value.