Venbridge House And Cottage

Venbridge House and Cottage is a small mansion with estate offices, now a house and adjoining cottage. It is believed to have been built around 1797, with substantial external enlargement and alterations in the mid-19th century. The main block is constructed of stuccoed rubble with exposed brick stacks, and has slate roofs. It is a two-story building with attics, and is flanked by two-story crosswings which are set back from the front and project to the rear. The main block has a double-depth plan, featuring large front rooms and narrower rear rooms, with a central cross passage leading to the staircase on the right. A service wing is located to the left and was rebuilt in the mid-19th century with a large, central chimney stack. Estate offices were added to the right wing, including an audit room above a storage area, also in the mid-19th century.

The south-facing front of the main block has a symmetrical three-window arrangement. A central six-panel door, with fielded panels to the reveals, is flanked by large tripartite timber sash windows. The first floor has shorter tripartite sashes with nine-pane centres, and a single nine-pane sash. Projecting eaves are supported by shaped brackets, and the low-pitched roof has two gabled dormers with 16-pane sashes. A seven-bay verandah runs across the front and features open wooden trelliswork supporting a tented roof.

The west wing (to the left of the centre) has a hipped roof with a central gable containing a 20th-century replacement timber casement (behind a 20th-century lean-to greenhouse on the ground floor). The east wing has a gable-ended form above an original 19th-century timber casement window, with a 20th-century conservatory built across the ground floor. All gables have plain bargeboarding topped with a finial and pendant. The rear elevation retains some original windows with their original glazing panes. A two-window side elevation shows gables over the west wing, and a wooden belfry is situated on the ridge behind the rendered stack.

The interior of the house is well-preserved. The open-well staircase features a closed string with simple, repeating lozenges, a mahogany handrail, stick balusters, a curtail step, and scrolled wreaths topped with inset marquetry stars. A painting in the drawing room depicts the house before its mid-19th century renovation, showing a smaller service wing projecting from the right side, no east wing, and a main block with a verandah and the same window arrangement, but featuring a plain parapet and roof dormers with hipped roofs.