Pythouse

Country house, now residential apartments. Circa 1725, rebuilt in 1805 by John Benett, with rear service wings added in 1891 for Vere Benett-Stanford. Built in limestone ashlar with Welsh slate hipped roofs and stone stacks in the Regency style.

The main block is two storeys with basement, presenting a symmetrical 9-bay front. A central tetrastyle Ionic portico with unfluted columns stands above steps with a mounting block. The channelled rusticated basement contains three 3-pane windows on either side. The ground floor features a central pair of panelled double doors in moulded architrave, with four plate glass sashes to left and right. The first floor has nine plate glass sashes across. A moulded cornice leads to the pediment, which displays the Benett arms with blocking course. Cast-iron rainwater heads are dated 1805.

The right and left returns each have a central distyle in antis Ionic portico with French windows and either 12-pane or plate glass sashes. Cast-iron balustrades line the steps and portico. The flanking bays feature tripartite sashes with segmental-headed panels to the ground floor and sashes to the first floor, with cornice and blocking course matching the front elevation.

The rear returns have projecting ashlar-faced 1891 wings with bow-fronted two-storey porches, each with French windows up steps flanked by stone balustrades and plate glass sashes. Yellow cavity-walled brick service wings flank the service courtyard to the rear, featuring plate glass segmental-headed sashes, 4-panelled and half-glazed doors, and cast-iron rainwater heads dated 1891. Lead and slate roofs include raking attic dormers.

Interior features include an entrance hall with diagonally-laid marble floor, 8-panelled double doors, and anthemion ceiling frieze. The central stair hall contains a stone staircase supported on cast-iron arched trellis work with cantilevered returns, cast-iron rod balusters, and wreathed moulded handrails. Marble Ionic columns line the upper corridor, which has a guilloche frieze to the coved ceiling with oval toplight.

The morning room contains a fine grey marble fireplace with canopy, floral frieze on enriched columns, and the date 1553, likely Italian work. It has a plaster ceiling frieze with vine motif. The drawing room features a fine Italian fireplace with classical figures in the frieze of the canopy.

The first floor retains fittings from the early 18th-century house. The middle range's east side has stairs with two turned balusters per open string tread, wide moulded handrail, and two-panelled doors with some dado panelling. The west side contains a room with a good marble fireplace featuring rococo frieze and consoles to cornice and overmantel, full fielded panelling, dentil cornice, and a 6-fielded panel door in enriched architrave.

The 1891 kitchen retains original blue or white tiled walls and a glazed roof with a large segmental-arched opening to the former ranges. A glazed first-floor corridor links the 1805 range with the 1891 wings, featuring a tesselated floor and octagonal leaded windows.

The house sits in parkland with a ha-ha. The front elevation closely resembles Phillips House, Dinton (begun 1813), attributed to Jeffry Wyatville.