Fonthill

Fonthill is a house dating from approximately 1850, with alterations in 1865 and an extension in 1875, potentially built on older foundations. The exterior is painted stucco with a hipped slate roof, wide eaves, and moulded stacks to the front left and rear right. The house has a square plan, with a prominent higher wing added in 1875 to the right and a clock tower to the front right. The c.1850 section features chamfered rusticated quoins, moulded architraves, and bracketed sills; the ground floor sills are adorned with 1875 panelled friezes below elaborate consoles to the cornices. A semicircular, two-storey Tuscan porch, constructed in 1875, is centrally positioned on the front elevation and accessed by steps. This porch features double doors with an overlight and three semicircular-arched sash windows with shell keystones and blind balustrades. A plaque above the porch depicts a breach in a Roman wall, representing a detail of the Greame family’s coat of arms, who acquired the house in 1865. The symmetrical, three-window arrangement of the garden side was originally the main entrance. The first floor has sash windows with margin panes; the central window is arched. Ground floor French windows, dating from 1865, are set within canted bays sheltered by a swept verandah canopy with a pierced wooden frieze and slender cast-iron columns. The rear elevation includes a large 1875 canted bay with various windows. The interior entrance hall, likely from 1875, is panelled in oak with a high skirting board, 4-panel doors, an elaborate cornice, and a ceiling rose. A bell tower within the courtyard has been rebuilt. The house represents a fine 19th-century villa with minimal 20th-century alterations.