Studley House, 17 Cloughmore Road, Rostrevor, BT34 3EL

Studley House

Studley House is a typically cuboid but asymmetric two-storey Italianate villa built in 1858–59, designed by W.J. Barre. It displays standard hallmarks of the Italianate style including an overhanging hipped roof on dentilled eaves, square and canted projections (some with balconies), a rendered façade with ground floor rustication, and a mixture of arched and flat-headed openings.

The house stands within spacious, partially wooded grounds on the south side of Rostrevor, approximately 0.37 kilometres south-southwest of the village centre. A curving drive opens off Cloughmore Road to the east. The plot is enclosed by a rubble wall with stone coping, which appears to have been heightened at some point. The gateway, located near the south end, has circa 1970s blue-grey brick piers and sheeted timber gates of similar date. The grounds originally included a gate lodge at the south-eastern corner, just south of the gateway, but this was removed around 1888 due to neighbouring development. To the immediate rear (northwest corner of the plot) are two-storey outbuildings to the east and west sides.

The plan is basically square but incorporates a broad full-height projection to the southwest with an attached single-storey porch and canted bay, and another full-height projection to the northeast.

The front (south) elevation is asymmetric. At the centre is a porch with a doorway to the east side and a semi-circular arched window to the front. The doorway has a panelled timber door and semi-circular fanlight, while the window originally had a double-sash frame but now has a replacement. The porch is topped with a balcony fitted with decorative cast-iron railings. To the immediate left of the porch is a full-height projection with a canted bay to the ground floor. This bay has paired flat-arch windows to the front and similar single windows to the sides, all with two-over-two timber sash frames. The bay was originally topped with a balcony like the porch, but the railings have been removed. To the first floor are paired windows with segmental-arch heads and a shouldered and arched moulded surround. To the right of the porch is a three-light window with rendered mullions separating each light. Directly over the porch is a single window matching those to the first floor projection but with a replacement timber frame, with a pair to the right.

The west elevation has a less formal arrangement. The far left bay has three levels, probably rooms off half-landings, with a semi-circular headed window to each level. Three windows appear to the centre and right on the ground floor, similar to those on the ground floor front, with three above as the first floor front but without the surround. An arched niche, designed to house a statue, appears on the upper floor facing onto the balcony on the east-facing side of the projection.

The east elevation has two windows to each floor on the left half, similar to those elsewhere but with surrounds to those of the first floor. A full-height square projection to the right contains a triple-light window to the ground floor and a paired window above.

The north elevation has a much less formal arrangement of openings, with windows at three levels. The ground floor is abutted at the centre-left by a tall rendered wall that encloses the east side of the yard. Windows to this side are generally smaller and many have six-over-six timber sash frames. The ground floor has two windows to the left of the wall at slightly differing levels, with two more to the right flanking a partially glazed rear door. The middle level has three windows to the centre, the outer ones matching ground level windows, whilst that in between is a large semi-circular headed stairwell window with a conjoined arch timber frame and decorative stained glazing. The glazing contains a pair of matching roundels each bearing what appears to be an earl's coronet with the letters or cypher 'CF' or 'FC' beneath. The top level has two central windows in line with the smaller windows to the middle floor.

The walls are finished with lined render with rustication to the ground floor of the south and east (the garden fronts) and an upper level sill course and in-out quoins to the south, east, and west. Stone sills are painted. The natural Welsh slate hipped roof has a central well and boxed-in eaves on dentilled brackets, except along much of the rear elevation. Three tall rendered chimneystacks are present, with the stack to the south retaining original arched pots. Rainwater goods appear to be largely cast-iron. A satellite dish is attached to the east elevation.

The rear yard contains a rectangular plan two-storey outbuilding to the west, probably originally a coach house, with roughcast walls, a slated hipped roof, and an assortment of openings including a loft doorway set under a small gable. An enlarged window with a Crittall frame adjoins this building. A smaller outbuilding to the east side has similar walls and a half-hipped roof with a chimney stack to the south. The south end has a relatively recent timber outside stair leading to what appears to have been latterly used as a first floor apartment or studio.