Gledstone Hall And Forecourt Walls, Pavilions And Gates

Gledstone Hall is a large house built between 1922 and 1926 by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Sir Amos Nelson. It is now divided into multiple residences. The house is constructed of sandstone ashlar from Salterforth, with Cotswold stone slate roofing. It is two storeys high, distinguished by a tall and prominent roof. The design is based on a double-pile plan, with a central block and flanking pavilions linked by walls to separate lodge pavilions that define the forecourt.

The main front has thirteen bays, with the end pavilions each having a single bay. The central three bays project as a pedimented portico with a distyle in antis, arched side walls, and a consoled doorway. All windows are casements, set within sunk vertical panels, with small panes at the bottom and larger panes above. The garden front is similar with eleven bays, lacking the central break present on the main facade. Single-storey colonnades of Doric columns in antis are located between the second and fourth, and eighth and tenth bays. Pedimented, tetra-style garden features with central arches breaking the base cornice are set against the rear walls of the service blocks.

The rectangular forecourt features fine ornamental wrought iron gates at the north end, topped with an overthrow displaying the Nelson arms. These gates are flanked by four large piers topped with urns. Similar piers mark the side entrances, with rusticated bands suggesting their presence on the walls of the kitchen and garages that project forward from the main house. A Vanbrughian chimneystack marks the kitchen. Minor stone piers are topped with balls, and wing walls extend to two two-storeyed lodges or pavilions, featuring pyramidal roofs and central chimneys. Each lodge has a single window and door with a consoled pediment on the outer face, and a single window below with two above on the inner face.

The interior is characterized by heavily articulated circulation areas to create a sense of space. Entry is via a Doric columned vestibule with rusticated lintels. A vaulted passageway with a white and black inlaid marble floor runs along much of the northern side of the ground floor. Off this passageway, a staircase made of the same material rises in three open flights beneath a large elliptical arch. A further Doric hall with green marble columns and a similar marble floor is located in the centre of the south side. The remaining rooms have simple designs with heavily moulded ceilings in circular patterns. One room has a fireplace made of dark green and white marble. Gledstone Hall is considered one of the last large houses built from new by Lutyens, foreshadowing his later work at Middleton Park, Oxfordshire, and is described as “one of his finest and most sensitive houses.”