The White House

The White House

House dating from the early 18th century, remodelled in 1754 and again in 1764-1765 for John Robinson. The later remodelling is attributed to Henry Bellas (or Bellhouse) of Appleby. The building was extended in the late 18th century.

The main structure is constructed of red sandstone rubble, rendered and painted, with red sandstone quoins also painted. The roofs are covered in Westmorland slate, with brick used for the rear range.

The building comprises a rectangular main block with a narrower attached rectangular former service wing to the rear, and a small cottage with a polygonal east end.

The White House is situated on Boroughgate, the main medieval thoroughfare of the town. It presents as a whitewashed, three-storey building with an attic and basement, beneath a hipped roof of Westmorland slate. A stone plinth runs around the building, with alternating quoins and three squared stone string courses marking the floor divisions.

The west elevation facing Boroughgate features three depressed ogee-headed windows to each floor, each with moulded architraves and squared impost blocks. The upper sashes have interlaced glazing bars creating a tracery-like effect. Basement windows are set into the stone plinth. The right return holds a central entrance with an ogee-headed stone surround complete with pilasters and a curved stone hood above an ogee-arched fanlight. The door has raised and fielded panels, with the lower sections formed by a cross arrangement of curved rails and styles centred on a diamond-shaped panel. Three windows of the same form as those on the west elevation appear on this return at each storey, with three bulls eye windows at attic level. The north elevation displays scattered fenestration, predominantly rectangular-headed windows with plain surrounds and early 18th-century sash windows with thick glazing bars, alongside two ogee-headed examples. The east elevation has a single ogee-headed window to each floor and a bulls eye window to the attic; the remainder is obscured by the attached rear range.

The two-storey brick-built rear range features rusticated stone quoins at the north-east and south-east corners, a stone rubble plinth and a squared string course, beneath a hipped roof with a central brick chimney stack. The ground floor contains a tri-partite moulded ogee-headed window with moulded stone mullions lighting the former kitchen, with a single-light similar window to the right and four identical windows to the first floor. All windows have sliding sash lights with interlacing glazing bars to the upper sash. Inserted entrances are present at the east and west ends, with a round-headed entrance at the west end now serving as a window. At the east end of the range stands a later 18th-century lower brick-built former stable, now converted to a cottage, featuring rusticated quoins beneath a hipped roof with a central ventilator and windows matching those of the kitchen range. Attached to its east end is a single-storey polygonal bay beneath a pyramidal roof, featuring an ashlar plinth, a deep moulded plinth course, and a polygonal bay-window with a moulded surround and mullions with squared impost blocks and depressed ogee-arched lights.

The interior retains largely the mid-18th-century plan-form with minor modifications. The stair hall contains an open-string dog-leg staircase with slender turned balusters and a moulded ramped handrail with a scrolled end on a fluted, slender newel post. Stairs to the right lead down to the cellar and beyond to a redundant servant stairwell, now occupied by a WC, with a service room beyond. The stair hall and first and second floor landings feature modillioned, moulded plaster cornices, as do the moulded cornices of the main reception rooms and most upper floor rooms. The principal floors retain contemporary doors with raised and fielded panels matching the main entrance design, except for a plain six-panelled door through the north wall of the south-east room and a modern replacement to the first floor. Other doors are conventional six-panel examples. Most windows have panelled reveals and soffits, fitted with painted and unpainted shutters with ogee heads; those to the second floor are unpainted and engraved with names and early 19th-century dates. Chimneypieces are predominantly 19th century and Georgian in style, with small cast-iron canted examples to the south-east rooms on the first and second floors. The attic was not inspected in 2019, but a 1993 survey noted that it was reached from the second floor by the retained upper flight of a servant stair, with the remainder removed and its stairwell redundant. The servant stair was described as early 18th-century in form, having a crude square-section handrail surmounted by a deep moulding, squared newels and turned balusters, of which only two remained. The attic rooms contained moulded stone fireplaces. The original 1764-1765 pegged roof structure was retained, described as being of three bays with two trusses featuring tie beams, king posts, raked struts and principal rafters with curved feet.

The western part of the rear range comprises a series of former service rooms, two with six-panel doors. One contains a cooking hearth at its east end with a red sandstone surround featuring moulded brackets supporting a projecting lintel. A brick-arched alcove interpreted as a possible later fireplace is present, and a brick segmental-arched opening to the left opens into a second room with an inserted range to its west wall. The first floor of this range was not inspected, but the 1993 survey noted three bedrooms with a north corridor, all featuring good ceiling cornices and six-panel doors matching those of the street range, with late 19th-century Georgian style fireplace surrounds. The attached cottage at the eastern end, formerly a stable, has a modern interior.

To the front of the west elevation stands a low stone wall with double-chamfered ashlar coping stones set with replacement 20th-century railings.