Bromsberrow Place

BROMSBERROW PLACE

Country house. Built in the third quarter of the 18th century by Ferdinando Stratford for R.D. Yate, originally as Hook Farm. Reconstructed around 1825, probably by Basevi for Osman Ricardo. Rendered and lined as ashlar with a slate roof.

The house is planned as a two-storey building, seven windows wide on the entrance front, two rooms deep, with a three-storey rear elevation at the same overall height, a short wing on the left at the back, and a single-storey wing to the left front.

The entrance front displays Greek Revival styling. It features a projecting centre with a single-storey porch and front, fronted by four fluted Doric columns with a plain cornice and flat roof. Behind these are six-panel double doors with an eared architrave, flanked by single-light marginal light windows and returns. The wall has a plain plinth and string course at sill level. To the left are three sash windows, to the right three two-light casements, each with blind boxes bearing three lozenges on their faces, all set in plain surrounds beneath moulded cornices. The end bays are rusticated with slight projections serving as bases for plain paired pilasters on the first floor. The left bay contains marginal light windows within the rustication, arranged one above the other. A plain string course runs above, with three 16-pane sashes on each side of the first floor set slightly above, in surrounds and with cornices matching those below. The centre features a two-light casement with a plain surround and pediment. All first floor windows have sliding louvred shutters within frames rising from the string course. A plain cornice and parapet crown the front, with a square balustrade to the front between plain end blocks. The centre block bears a fielded panel. The roof is hipped at the ends with chimneys positioned on the ends and either side of the centre on the right. The left projecting wing contains three sash windows between plain pilasters, with the wall carried up as a high parapet to conceal the billiard room rooflight.

The rear elevation features a slightly inset centre with a central half-glazed door accessed by two stone steps, with two fielded panels below and fielded panels to the reveals, an architrave, and consoles supporting a pediment. Sash windows flank this on each side, positioned above semi-circular covers to cellar openings. On the left, the lower two floors are covered by a conservatory, its brick back wall projecting from the main building. On the right is a half-glazed door descending two steps, with a rectangular fanlight and sash window beyond. The right projecting wing contains two sashes in its end wall. The first floor has three sashes in a recessed centre section and two sashes in each projection on the right, with a moulded string above. The second floor has three six-pane sashes in the centre with plain surrounds beneath moulded cornices, with two sashes on either side and in the projecting wing. A cornice and plain parapet complete the rear elevation.

The conservatory comprises eight bays facing the garden, with attenuated cast-iron fluted Doric columns and a plain cast-iron cornice, accessed by two stone steps. Between the columns are tall glazed doors with low panelled bases, topped by a glass roof. The interior features a stone-paved floor with no trusses, instead employing iron ties across at intervals.

Interior features are extensive and refined. At the main entrance is a three-bay Corinthian screen with columns between piers and two steps up. The entrance hall has a panelled dado with plaster panelling and moulded cornice above, six-fielded panel doors with moulded architraves, and an acanthus and shell cornice.

The drawing room to the right features a fluted dado rail, moulded plaster cornice, and fluting to the fielding on door and shutter panels, with a leaf frieze above the door surround. The fireplace has paired column ends with capitals in two tiers of flat acanthus adorned with rams' heads as a Corinthian variant, the cornice decorated with swags and lyres. A cambered arch spans one end wall with palmettes in the spandrels and semi-circular niches in the sides, leading to French doors opening to a Doric porch.

The dining room to the left has a moulded dado rail with fluted fielding to door and shutter panels and a door surround matching the drawing room. The cornice features alternating urns and scrolls. The fireplace is of grey marble with tapering panelled pilasters to the sides and an ornate cast-iron grate, above which hangs a large mirror in a simply moulded gilt surround. The end bay is marked off by paired unfluted Corinthian pilasters on each side, echoed on the end wall.

The billiard room beyond has a moulded plaster cornice and what appears to be later varnished fielded dado panelling and shutters.

The circular stair hall features a moulded handrail ramped to newels with turned balusters with square knobs, a cut string with fretwork ends to the treads, and an octagonal opening for a rooflight with a rectangular one since superimposed. A panelled plaster ceiling below includes a small repeated pointed cross-vault cornice. Six-panel doors with eared surrounds open off into a corridor to the right. A fireplace with an eared surround has scrolls up outside, a carved head in the centre of the lintel, and a bow and quiver crossed behind with leaves on either side.

The rear hall behind the stairs contains two elliptical arches towards the front with panelled soffits and a dogleg stair with winders to the rear first floor, featuring turned balusters, cut string, and a moulded handrail.

The house was originally Hook Farm, rebuilt as Bromsberrow Place for R.D. Yate after 1760 (with 1772 recorded on a reset rainwater head) and completed by his son. The front was refaced and the conservatory added around 1825.