Bryanston School

Bryanston School is a country house, now functioning as a school, built between 1889 and 1894 by architect R. Norman Shaw for Lord Portman. The building features red brickwork in English bond with Portland stone ashlar dressings and has a hipped slate roof. It is a very large, loosely neo-Baroque mansion that is symmetrical in design, comprising two storeys with a basement and double attics. The entrance facade has 11 bays, with 7 in the main central block and flanking service wings at right angles. The main block is arranged in a 2:3:2 pattern, with the outer bays defined by banded brick and ashlar. Most windows are surrounded by rusticated ashlar with keystones, while the outer bays of the central block have elongated staircase windows. The windows are sashes with glazing bars. The central bays of the service wing feature large 3-bay segmental pediments containing roundels. The central doorway to the main block has a Gibbs surround and a segmental pediment. There are 7 dormers with alternating segmental and triangular pediments, and the flanking wings have a first-floor plat band. A moulded and dentilled cornice runs along the top. The garden front has similar detailing and consists of 23 bays arranged as 5:3:7:3:5.

Inside, there is a central spine corridor that runs the length of the house and passes straight through the central saloon, which is open to the full height of the house and lit by a central hidden cupola. This saloon is surrounded by a first-floor balcony supported on giant Ionic columns. The house features a heavy late 17th-century style staircase and a double apsed entrance hall. The main rooms contain rich plasterwork, primarily in a neo-Baroque or neo-Adam style, along with classical chimneypieces, some of which may have been reused from an earlier house by J. Wyatt. The building showcases several early technical advancements, having been lit by electricity since its construction and retaining its original hydraulic lifts.