Westcott House

Westcott House is likely a late 18th century house with a later 19th century extension. The exterior walls are stuccoed, incised to resemble ashlar, although the underlying material is unknown—it may be brick or stone rubble—and the roof is slate. The main block is square and faces southeast. It has a double-depth plan with a front and back room on either side of the entrance hall and main staircase. The southwest rooms have individual end stacks, while the northeast rooms are served by an axial stack between back-to-back fireplaces. A lower two-story service block, probably a late 19th century addition or modernisation of service rooms, is set back on the southwest side and has a probable kitchen stack. The main block is two stories high with attics. The front elevation is symmetrical, featuring a three-window arrangement of 12-pane sash windows; the ground floor windows are taller than those on the first floor. A central doorway is framed by a four-panel door, an overlight with glazing bars, panelled reveals, and a flat-roofed porch with fluted columns and a moulded timber entablature, including a modillion cornice. A plain parapet sits atop a timber modillion eaves cornice. The roof is hipped at each end. The northeast and rear (northwest) elevations continue the same style, with three-window fronts of 12-pane sashes, and the northeast elevation has two dormer windows lighting the attics. The extension on the left has late 19th century fenestration, including a ground floor canted bay window with sashes without glazing bars and a first floor 12-pane sash with horns. The extension’s rear elevation features two ground floor doors and a first floor 12-pane sash with horns. Interior access was limited during the survey, but revealed surviving original details like panelled doors, window shutters, chimneypieces and moulded plaster cornices. The original staircase has an open string, turned balusters with blocks, and a flat moulded handrail.