Corffe House Little Corffe

Corffe House, now divided into two separate residences, incorporates fabric dating back to the late 16th century, significantly remodelled around 1800 when the main range was constructed. The building is constructed of painted rendered stone rubble and brick, with a hipped slate roof featuring shaped brackets to the deep eaves soffits. Brick ridge stacks are present on the main range, and diagonally set twin brick stacks mark the gable end of the west wing.

The main range, with its three principal rooms facing the garden, is arranged around a rear hall passage that contains a central staircase and a principal entrance on the right (east) side. The earlier west wing is set back slightly and extends from the left side. The main range is three stories high and has a three-window front. A symmetrical bow window dominates the ground floor, featuring three tall 18-paned sash windows flanked by larger tripartite sashes, with an 18-pane centre sash and 6-paned sliding sidelights. The bow window is topped with wrought iron balcony railings and a canted timber latticed verandah with a tent-shaped roof. French windows with a fanlight and glazed sidelights are also present. The third storey has three 3-over-6 paned sash windows. A deeply projecting porch with three Tuscan columns of square section supporting an entablature is located on the right side, incorporating a tripartite doorway with a half-glazed two-panelled door and intersecting glazing bars to the fanlight.

The wing on the left has a three-window range; a three-light timber ovolo mullion window is at the left end, with square leaded panes in the outer lights. A large 15-paned window is at the centre, and an early 19th-century two-light casement with eight panes per light is to the right. The ground floor of this wing has a 24-paned sash with thick glazing bars at the left end, with later 20th-century window replacements elsewhere.

The interior of the main range includes a fine central room with large panels featuring medallions suspended from swags, finely moulded plasterwork cornices, and a foliated string around an oval centrepiece, all executed in the Adam style. Slender marble colonnettes flank the fireplace. The principal rooms on either side also feature moulded plasterwork cornices. Surviving original joinery includes six-panelled doors and window shutters. A dog-leg staircase rises to the third storey, lit by a tall round arched window. The staircase has stick balusters and a moulded handrail ramped up at the newels. The earlier west wing exhibits elaborately moulded cross beams and bressumers, a chamfered fireplace lintel, and scratch-moulded joists in the room at the left end.