Bryn Hafod

Bryn Hafod is a house dated 1898, designed by the distinguished architect J.A. Gotch for Charles Wicksteed. It is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and a plain-tile roof. The brick ridge and end stacks are topped with unusual moulded stone entablature caps which incorporate up-draft enhancers.

The building is designed in seventeenth-century Artisan Mannerist style. It comprises two storeys and an attic. The main front faces the garden to the rear, the entrance front is positioned to the right side, and the service front faces the lane.

The garden front is the principal elevation, featuring four large gables and a six-window range at first-floor level. Below this is a centre-left garden door flanked by two-light windows, with a large polygonal bay on either side, both capped with low stone balustrades. The main windows throughout are of stone mullion and transom design with finely leaded casements. Secondary windows are sashes set under stone lintels.

The service front, facing the lane, has a long frontage of sash windows. To the right is a fine large window of leaded casements that lights the staircase. Below are further leaded-light casements, and to the right is a facing gable also with leaded casements.

The entrance front features a front door recessed within a curved moulded stone arch. To the right of the entrance is a projecting stack bearing the initials and date CW 1898. Above and to the right are mullion and transom windows. Beyond a twentieth-century chapel link is an unusual stone bow window.

The interior reveals Gotch's skill in meeting the patron's exacting requirements. The entrance door leads to a vestibule and an inner finely leaded part-glazed door, which opens into the large central hall—the heart of the design. This hall features a boxed cross-beamed ceiling enriched with plasterwork and anaglypta decoration and frieze. An elaborate fireplace and overmantel, along with elaborate doors and half-height panelling, complete this impressive space. The staircase rises from the hall and returns to the landing above, with a balustrade fitted with reeded square balusters.

The room to the right of the hall contains an eighteenth-century style fireplace. The drawing room, situated behind, features a fine fireplace and overmantel, an unusual low bow window, and the large bay window. A narrow strip has been partitioned to form a passage to the chapel, but the elaborate cornice survives intact. The dining room also has an elaborate fireplace and overmantel. A further reception room, facing the lane and possibly serving as a business room, contains an eighteenth-century style fireplace with a cast-iron grate. Many bedrooms retain their original fireplaces with cast-iron grates, moulded doors, and back stairs, although some rooms have been modified.

Wicksteed's brief to Gotch specified that the house must have "a central hall, easily cleared for dancing; there must be space for entertaining, and several spare rooms for guests." Gotch fulfilled this programme with great effectiveness, embellishing the house with many quality fittings, the majority of which survive. In a 1923 speech, Wicksteed himself praised the result: "A beautiful house, which had never been altered or repaired and was comfortable and beautiful in every way. Everything Mr. Gotch did was tasteful, beautiful, and good work."

Charles Wicksteed was a notable local businessman and generous benefactor to Kettering, donating the large Wicksteed Park, which remains one of the town's principal leisure facilities. He lived at Bryn Hafod until his death in 1931. The house became a Convent in the 1950s.

Various twentieth-century extensions, including the remodelling of an early stable or service range projecting toward the road, a chapel of 1963 (subsequently much remodelled), and an accommodation wing of the 1960s–70s, are not of special architectural interest.

Bryn Hafod forms a significant architectural group with the former preparatory school, known as Middlewest, situated next door.