The Chalet

The Chalet is a summer house or pavilion, now functioning as a house, built between 1887 and 1888 for Alfred de Rothschild of Halton House to entertain guests. It is reputedly designed by an Austrian architect and is modeled on an Alpine chalet, featuring a timber ground floor and loft set on a brick basement. The building has a large, shallow pitched tiled roof that sweeps down over side verandahs and includes one chimney. The south gable front has a verandah supported by four large posts on red brick bases, braced to tiebeams, with rustic balustrades on both the verandah and balcony, the latter adorned with a band of rustic palissading below. The walls are finished with panels of logs arranged in patterns, and there are heavy plate glass mullioned and transomed windows. Inside, three rooms retain painted and gilded panelling, decorative leather lining, and silk tapestry hangings. The Chalet was visited by Edward VIII, who was a friend of Alfred de Rothschild.