Warrens House

Warrens House is a medium-sized country house located within Warrens Park. It was originally built in 1792 by J Nash, with extensions added around 1800 in a matching style, followed by further 19th-century additions. The building was reduced in size around 1960. It is constructed primarily of yellow brick, with some stuccoed areas, and has slate and lead roofs.

The main building is two stories high with a raised basement, exhibiting a wide central bay and double-pile construction with crosswings at each end. A c.1800 extension continues along the garden side, incorporating a projecting service range on the entrance side. The west front features a Nash-era section on the left-hand end. A probable c.1800 single-story infill porch located centrally, between the flanking wings, is comprised of three rubbed brick arches, each supporting French doors beneath radiating fanlights. The wings have 15-pane round-head sash windows within recessed panels, each framed by rubbed brick arches. A raised first-floor band runs along the facade, above which is a wide 6-pane sash window under an arch. Above the central porch is a tall 2-light casement window beneath a rubbed arch. The wings are surmounted by pedimented gables with overhanging cornices and architraves featuring paired modillions and a rubbed oculus. A projecting wall of a service courtyard is visible on the right-hand side. The east garden front includes a Nash-era section on the right-hand side. The right-hand crosswing has a canted two-story bay, a recessed bay in the centre, and another crosswing that turns inwards to create a three-bay range. Beyond this is a single-story five-bay range and further sections replicating Nash’s design.

Internally, behind the entrance front, a central entrance tunnel leads under a half landing of a perron, opening onto a staircase constructed from polished mahogany. A narrow passage runs through to a door on the garden front. The left-hand wing contains a drawing room with a Doric screen, which in turn adjoins a library with a bay window. Behind the right-hand side of the entrance hall is a study, and to the east of it, within a tall single-story section, is a large dining room featuring round-top lights.

The house is depicted in G S Repton's Sketchbook of the New Forest, 1805, pages 43, 31-2, and further elevations and a brewhouse are illustrated in the RIBA Drawings Collection as "The Warrens by Mr Nash for Mr G Eyre, near Lyndhurst."