New Dover'S House

NEW DOVER'S HOUSE

This is a substantial Cotswold Arts and Crafts house built between 1927 and 1937, designed by Frederick Landseer Maur Griggs for himself. The house was damaged by fire in 1973 and repaired in 1974. It is built from Cotswold limestone rubble brought to course with limestone ashlar dressings, under Cotswold stone slate roofs with ashlar stacks. Lead rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The building is constructed on a slightly irregular U-shaped plan with eastern and western ranges running north-south and a main east-west range connecting their northern ends. The eastern range incorporates part of an 18th-century barn that originally stood on the site. One bay facing the courtyard is timber-framed, and some internal partitioning is also timber-framed.

The house is principally of two storeys, with the main range containing an additional range of rooms within the attic. The elevations are irregular with gabled bays and various projections and recessions, reflecting Griggs' understanding of vernacular Cotswold building. Putlog holes remain visible in the northern range from the building's construction using traditional timber scaffolding. The roofs have raised verges with stone copings. All windows have chamfered stone mullions with various numbers of lights in differing sizes, set within chamfered stone reveals. The timber-framed bay contains timber windows with chamfered timber mullions. All windows have rectangular leaded lights with wrought-iron cames featuring spear ends and decorative wrought-iron latches.

The principal elevation to the north comprises five irregular bays. The central and more deeply projecting bay features a two-storey canted bay window. To the right is a shallow blind gabled bay of single-storey height with a tall rectangular stack. Between the first and second bays is a complex angled entrance to the scullery, marked by a datestone of 1929. The three ranges form a small courtyard on the garden side. The eastern wing has a steeply pitched roof with wide gables forming half-dormers; the northern bay is timber-framed. Large buttresses support the southern end of this range, which has a small doorway over which is a datestone of 1927, carved by Eric Gill. This range features elaborate octagonal chimney stacks on square bases, with four stacks clustered at the southern end. The northern range has a moulded plinth and ashlar finish with a steep pitched roof and clustered stacks. The garden entrance doorway is modest and offset to the right, set under a cambered-arched head within a chamfered reveal. All three external doors are double-boarded plank doors with elaborate scrolled wrought-iron hinges.

A polygonal stair bay occupies the corner between the western and northern ranges, with tall windows to each face rising to follow the staircase within. The turret roof has a shallow parapet with a small timber-framed and louvred gable rising behind it. The southern end of the western wing was largely rebuilt in the 1970s following fire damage and is now shorter than the original footprint. The south gable-end wall includes re-sited blocks carrying an inscription carved by Gordon Russell reading: NEW DOVER'S HOUSE WAS DESIGNED AND BUILDED BY F L M G RA 1927-1937.

The interior retains a wealth of high-quality features designed by Griggs and made by significant craftspeople of the Cotswold Arts and Crafts movement, including workers from the workshops of Peter Waals and other members of the Sapperton group. The floors are laid with wide elm boards. Ceilings feature exposed chamfered beams with run-out stops and exposed joists. Ashlar and timber fireplaces are distributed throughout the building. Walls are variously timber-framed, plastered, exposed rubble stone, or ashlar. All doors, apart from that to the scullery lobby, are plank doors with decorative nail studding made at Peter Waals' workshop in Chalford, fitted with wrought-iron door handles and strap hinges made by Alfred Bucknall. Both the main and secondary stairs are solid-tread oak winders.

The exterior entrances in the northern range, to north and south, lead into an entrance hall facing the garden with an internal window to the kitchen. The complex plan allowed service rooms to be contained within a relatively small footprint, with principal living rooms located mainly in the western wing and Griggs' working area in the eastern wing. The eastern range houses a large room built to contain Griggs' printing press. The western wing contains two principal rooms, with the southern room being the remodelled lounge. This features a wide inglenook fireplace in its northern wall with a chamfered bressumer, now housing a wood-burning stove. The main stair winds through the well-lit turret with tall stair windows set into exposed ashlar walls. The secondary stair is accessed behind a studded plank door, adjacent to which is a similar door to the cellar stair. First-floor rooms are reached from corridors running along the ranges, with rooms opening from one side. Rooms in the eastern and northern ranges have exposed roof trusses including half-crucks, collars and purlins. In the eastern range, the timber-framed bay houses Griggs' former study. The western bay has a later 20th-century roof structure of softwood. The cellar is reached by a stone winder stair; the room is L-shaped, built in stone, and has round-arched vaulting. One wall bears incised initials made by the craftsmen who constructed the house.

To the north of the house stands an outbuilding known as the Tack Room, a two-storey structure built in limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. Timber-framed partitions divide the ground floor, which appears to have been used as stabling. The loft above is reached by an external stair and has an exposed roof structure with high queen struts and a raised collar.