Glendon

Glendon is a detached house built in the 1820s, located in Corfe Mullen. It represents a notable example of Neoclassical villa architecture and has been extended during the later 19th century and early to mid-20th century.

The house is constructed of stucco with a low hipped slate roof and rendered chimney stacks. It features overhanging eaves with widely spaced brackets. Most windows are sash windows with glazing bars, though French windows with Gothick-style glazing appear on the north return, and plate glass windows have been inserted to part of the rear and south elevations.

The building has an irregular double-depth plan with two storeys, a basement and attics. The entrance front is arranged in nine bays with a rhythm of 3:2:2:3:1. A three-bay symmetrical addition with a parapet forms the left section. To its right stands a later 19th-century wing of two bays with paired sash windows at ground and first floors and dormer windows in the roof. The central three bays represent the original early 19th-century house. The entrance consists of a heavy Doric portico with pilasters carrying a flat stone entablature decorated with triglyphs, metopes and guttae to the frieze, with a finely detailed cornice to the inner face. The sides and front of the porch have been infilled and the pilasters appear to be later additions. Plain sash windows with glazing bars flank the entrance at both ground and first floors, with a moulded surround to the window directly above. Single-light windows have been inserted further left. The northernmost bay, defined by a shallow pilaster and built in matching materials, dates from the 1930s and lacks openings. The north return features three French windows with Gothick-style glazing to the upper part and three sash windows above.

The garden elevation's northern half is dominated by a two-storey bow window with a hipped roof at its third bay, with French windows flanking it. A conservatory existed until the mid-20th century to the right of the bow window, though only the brick base survives. The projecting later 19th-century wing to the right has plate glass sash windows, and the three-bay mid-20th-century addition features sash windows in similar style to the front elevation. The southern return is plainer with asymmetrical fenestration. A single-storey flat-roofed addition provides a separate entrance to the 1930s extension, and a further single-storey addition at the south-eastern corner was added between 1928 and 1934.

The interior is distinguished by high-quality decorative schemes and careful use of materials. A double-height entrance hall is approached through double doors with a Late Regency semi-circular fan-light above. The Classically-styled plaster ceiling features anthemions at the corners and a circular centrepiece, possibly a later addition. The cantilevered staircase has cast-iron balusters, a reeve curtail end, and a handrail with an inlaid veneered motif at its terminal.

A corridor leads to principal reception rooms on the garden side. The drawing room contains a Louis XV-style marble fire surround dating to the 1820s or 1830s and decorative cornices, with structural columns supporting the opening through to the 1930s single-bay addition. The morning room and study both have Late Regency fire surrounds with fluted jambs and circular medallions in the corners. The dining room, in the later 19th-century wing, is decorated in Rococo manner with marble fire surround, cornices and skirting boards. The southern end of the house contains service rooms including a former butler's pantry retaining its 19th-century wall cupboards, a kitchen, scullery, larder, and a game larder of the 1920s or 1930s with tiled walls and meat hooks. Service rooms were originally located in the basement beneath the original part of the house, which was not inspected but is understood to include the former kitchen, boiler room, gun room, wine store and a parlour.

At first floor, the main staircase opens onto a landing with a north-south corridor running the length of the house. Principal bedrooms overlook the garden to the rear. Bedroom fittings to the original part largely date from the 19th century; the bedroom in the later 19th-century wing has a compartmented ceiling and retains its fireplace. The second floor of this wing is accessed by plain timber stairs, with one bedroom featuring a late 19th-century Arts and Crafts fireplace. The first and second floors of the 1930s additions are of lesser interest and have undergone some modernisation following conversion to flats. The roof structure to the original part has king post construction with angled struts and a single row of trenched purlins, appearing to date from the later 19th century.

Subsidiary features include several sections of garden walling to the rear and a further short curved section immediately to the north-east. All are constructed of brick with header brick capping, with gateways flanked by square brick piers topped with ball finials.

Glendon was built in the early 19th century by an unknown architect or builder. It was extended by two bays at its southern end before 1888, and further extended to the north and south in the early to mid-20th century. The house was originally built for a merchant involved in the Newfoundland fur trade. From at least 1878 it was owned by Major General Powlett Lane, a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Dorset following his retirement from the army, and by Sir Claude and Lady Frances Morrison-Bell from 1936. During the Second World War, it was used by the Ministry of Defence to house officers of the US Army.