Wakefield Lodge

DEANSHANGER SP74SW 6/89 Wakefield Lodge (that part in 01/12/51 Deanshanger C.P.)

GV II*

Hunting lodge/country house. c.1748-50 by William Kent for 2nd Duke of Grafton with later C18 and C19 additions and alterations. Some additions demolished and other alterations made 1946-48 by A.G.S. Butler for Mr. Norman See. Limestone ashlar, slate roof, stone lateral and ridge stacks. 2 storeys, basement and, attic; 7-window range. H-plan. Central 6-panel double-leaf doors with overlight flanked by 15-pane sash windows with elliptical-arched heads. Single-storey 3-bay portico approached by curving double-arm balustraded stair. Tuscan columns with strong entasis, balustrades between columns, plain entablature originally with balustraded parapet, removed C20. Venetian windows to ground floor either side of portico and to projecting wings with elliptical-arched heads, stone balustrades and blank side panels. Central lst floor windows form tripartite lunette-shaped composition with wide divisions. Lunettes either side and to wings with blank side panels. Attic storeys to wings either end with open pediments and 6-pane sashes with stone lintels. 5-bay attic between is an addition of c.1840. Lunette windows to basement, plinth, sill bands, giant dentilled cornice at 1st floor level, and band and moulded cornice at attic floor level. 2-bay side elevations originally. Wings extended 1 bay to rear. 2-storey rendered brick addition to rear of main range. Mid C19 columned porch to left side of rendered brick, and single storey C20 kitchen extension to rear of left wing. Interior: 3-bay centre is filled by hall in the style of Inigo Jones' Queen House with balustraded gallery on console brackets at 1st floor level on all four sides. Stone-paved floor, large stone chimneypiece with spear and intertwined bows to side piers and bear's head to left pier, badger's head to right pier. Compartmented ceiling with Garter stair to central circular panel and deep divisions with guilloche patterns. Circular stone cantilever staircase in style of Queen's House and wrought-iron balustrade with S curves and mahogany handrail. Original plasterwork ceilings to study and present billiard room, probably original dining room. Drawing room and staircase to other side of hall remodelled by A.G.S. Butler. Present dining room said to have been formerly library with late C18 decoration, curved to one end with round-arched door flanked by round-arched recesses; deep coved ceiling with simple plasterwork. Original stone chimneypieces to study, billiard room and bedrooms. Stone-vaulted basement below hall with basement rooms either end. Northamptonshire seat of the Dukes of Grafton until 1936. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, pp377-8; Country Life: August 2: 1973; Watkin, D., et al., A House in Town: 1984, pp24-5)

Listing NGR: SP7375242550