Laurence House And Downing House

Laurence House and Downing House is a large building that has been converted into two dwellings. It dates from the late 17th century and has undergone alterations and expansions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The structure is made of small brown bricks laid in Flemish bond, with ashlar quoins and a stone slate roof. It stands two storeys high with attics and features five bays, with the two outer bays extending to the rear, creating a U-shaped plan.

On the east front, there is a central six-panel door with a fanlight, framed by a wooden doorcase that includes flanking pilasters, an entablature, and a dentilled pediment. To either side of the door are three windows above, which are 16-pane sashes with keyed incised lintels and stone sills. The outer bays have impressive two-storey canted bay windows, also with 16-pane sashes and dentilled cornices, topped with pedimented gables that have lunette windows above. The eaves feature a dentilled cornice, and there are ridge stacks, with those on the right having been renewed.

At the rear, there is a central blocked doorway that has been converted into a window with a fanlight, set in the original wood doorcase painted to imitate stone. Above this is a sash window that is now blocked. The left rear wing is rendered and has early form sashes, while the right rear wing, which now forms Downing House, is likely a 19th-century brick addition. The right return has three bays and is pebble-dashed, with 20th-century doors and windows, except for a first-floor sash window with glazing bars on the left.

Inside, at the time of listing, the building was divided to the right of the central door, with Laurence House on the left and Downing House on the right, which included the rear right wing. The interior of Downing House was inspected and featured a front room on the right that has a moulded ceiling cornice and an 18th-century moulded wooden fire surround. The house is believed to have originally served as the Dower House to Studley Royal and later functioned as a vicarage.