Melrose House

Melrose House is a Grade II* listed building, dating from around 1700 with later alterations. It stands 2½ storeys high and has a cellar, constructed from coursed rubble with worn freestone dressings. The building features a moulded plinth, coved and moulded cornice, and chamfered quoins. The hipped pantile roof is adorned with two restored gabled and moulded dormers. The front façade has five tall glazing bar sash windows, likely inserted into former cross-mullion windows, with moulded cills; three of the ground floor windows retain parts of the cornice. A central bolection doorway is framed by carved scroll brackets over panelled pilasters and a broken pediment that frames an urn. The wide six-panel door, with the upper two panels glazed, is accessed by five steps with railings and an iron handrail.

On the return to Whittox Lane, there are three brick-blocked windows, including two of the cross-mullion type and one very narrow halved cross-mullion type with a transom, all featuring cornices. The rear of the building includes a three-light transomed window above the first floor and two additional halved cross-mullion windows.

Inside, the house boasts an excellent staircase with two long heavy turned balusters per tread, a ramped heavy moulded rail with panelled newels, and a raised panelled and ramped dado. The staircase may date from around 1740. The ground and first floors contain panelled rooms, with the west rooms showcasing painted scenes on panels above the doors (three in each room). The panelling blocks former windows to the west, likely also from around 1740, and there are bolection fireplaces throughout. Melrose House is recognized as a very good town house.