Hartwell House

Hartwell House is a country house of early 17th-century origin that was significantly altered and extended during the 18th century, with work carried out by the architect Henry Keene. The building is constructed in ashlar stone and was reroofed in Westmoreland slate following a fire around 1960, with modern dormers subsequently added. The roof features stone chimneys, a parapet decorated with stone urns, and balustrading to the south front. The south front displays a moulded cornice and modillion brackets.

The house is two storeys with an attic and a mezzanine in the west wing. A band of stone runs along the first floor of the east and south elevations.

The north elevation is Jacobean in character and was refaced in stone during the 18th century. It comprises seven bays with stone mullioned and transomed windows. The outer projecting bays feature large bowed oriels with moulded corbels. A projecting central two-storey porch has a semicircular arched doorway flanked by pilasters, with a bowed oriel above decorated with a richly carved corbel bracket. Two-storey canted bay windows flank either side of the porch.

The east elevation dates to the mid-18th century and is attributed to Keene. It has five bays of sash windows with stone architrave surrounds, two-storey canted bays at each end with pedimented central upper windows, a central open Doric porch, and a pedimented window above.

The south elevation is 18th-century work with eleven bays of sash windows. Projecting wings at each side contain two-storey canted bay windows with pedimented central upper windows. The three central bays are slightly projecting, with a ground floor central door and flanking windows having semicircular arches set within blank arches. The central first floor window is pedimented with a semicircular headed niche on either side, and the outer windows are topped with cornices.

The west elevation is rubble stone with 17th-century mullioned and transomed windows and an 18th-century Tuscan colonnaded service entrance to the ground floor.

The interior contains significant features throughout. The north porch houses a stone-carved coat of arms of Sir Anthony Lee and an early 18th-century inner doorcase with door. The Great Hall was remodelled in the 18th century with ornamental plaster wall panels featuring shouldered corners and swags with birds in relief at the centre. The chimneypiece has flanking herons and scrolls, with an overmantel showing a panel of Apollo. The ceiling contains a central panel depicting a lady drawing classical ruins and a man with a bull's head. Doorcases feature oakleaf friezes and shouldered architraves.

The Breakfast Room is panelled in 20th-century work using old material and contains a 17th-century carved chimneypiece and overmantel. The Grand Staircase is primarily 17th-century with its lower flight turned through 90 degrees in the 20th century. It features a closed string, square newels with strapwork carving, and a moulded handrail with balusters carved as grotesque forms. Large carved figures representing mythological characters ornament the newels.

The east wing is entirely 18th-century work with highly carved ornamental window and doorcases, skirtings, chair rails, and modillion cornices. The Drawing Room has a very fine decorative plaster ceiling and a carved marble chimneypiece. The Dining Room contains a white marble chimneypiece with caryatids. The Library has a marble chimneypiece with rococo ornament to the overmantel, original bookcases (one with a broken pediment), carved brackets, and swags.

The Vestibule is a semicircular hall rising to the roof with Doric aedicules and three arches to the north wall. It features a band with scroll ornament, balustrades to two landings, a heavily fluted half-domed ceiling, and a radiating pattern to the floor. The Mezzanine Room in the west wing has a painted carved Jacobean overmantel and carved panelling with heads. The Long Gallery features a dentil cornice and stone chimneypiece. Some other 17th-century features remain in the west wing. The first floor is otherwise plain, while the attic storey was entirely rebuilt in the 20th century following the fire. Between 1809 and 1813, Hartwell House was the seat of the French Court and Government in exile and the residence of King Louis XVIII.