Solsgirth House

Solsgirth House

A large Neo-Jacobean and Scottish Domestic country house, built around 1870 with additions in 1898 and further major additions from 1910 to 1913 designed by architect James Graham Fairley. The building is 2 storeys high with attic and basement, irregular in plan, constructed of pale stugged sandstone ashlar with polished ashlar dressings. It adjoins a courtyard range and features gabled rooflines with crow-stepped gables, bargeboarded dormers, timber bracketed overhanging eaves, and tall stacks.

The south elevation comprises roughly 8 bays with a 4-bay section to the far left including a Jacobean pedimented doorpiece and a square-plan French pavilion roof with cast-iron brattishing. A 2-bay crowstepped gable section to the right displays oriel windows at first floor level on the south and east elevations. Adjoining the south elevation to the right is a single-storey loggia added in the 1910-13 phase, featuring a Tuscan-columned screen with a low balustraded wall and moulded cornice. This loggia is flanked by advanced square-plan pavilions with channelled rustication and round-arched openings, pierced parapets and ball-finials. Balustraded steps rise from the loggia to a terraced lawn.

Set to the far right of the loggia is a single-storey Dower House addition, a gable-ended structure with an engaged turreted corner entrance featuring a hood mould and conical cap.

The west elevation features a prominent projecting 3-stage square-plan tower with a canted window at ground level, decorative geometric strapwork moulding between the first and second stages, and a moulded round-arched pediment to a bi-partite window at second-floor level. The tower is crowned with an ogee-capped roof and cast-iron finial. The tower is flanked by a gable breaking the wallhead to the right and deep timber bracketed eaves to the left.

The north elevation comprises roughly 4 bays overlooking the courtyard, with separate accommodation set to the far left. An advancing gable to the right is corbelled out at second-storey level. The centre features a projecting gabled addition dated 1898, with a tall shouldered stack to the north and a crowstepped gable to the west bearing a carved date panel, key-stoned oculus and thistle-finial at the apex.

The courtyard is recessed and square-plan with cobbled surfacing and an over-sailing arch entrance. To the right stands a former stable with sliding timber doors, pitched dormers and a louvred and finialled ridge ventilator. To the left is self-contained former servants accommodation comprising the 'Dower House' and 'Coachman's House'.

The windows throughout are predominantly 4-pane timber sash-and-case with grey slate roofs. Tall narrow stacks feature clay cans, some with octagonal flues. Cast-iron rainwater goods include ornate hoppers.

The interior is predominantly Neo-Jacobean and French in character, distinguished by high-quality ornate plasterwork, carved timber archways, timber panelling and parquet floors. Transitional Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts influenced fixtures include coloured and leaded glass insets to ground-floor doors and cast-iron light fittings in the hall and ballroom.

The Dining Room features a fine inlaid timber fireplace with a companion recessed sideboard. The Library contains a walnut framework for glass-fronted bookcases and a black marble fireplace. The Study incorporates an Art Nouveau-influenced corner fireplace. The Chapel has a hammer-beam roof and ornate timber fire surround with fluted columns, flanked by round-arched cabinets. The ballroom is pine-panelled with a fireplace set within an arched recess to the east and a mosaic-tiled floor in the adjoining vestibule leading to the garden loggia. A timber galleried landing with a round dome cupola overlooks the central first-floor hall. Two bedrooms feature Delft tile insets to their fireplaces. Fitted timber wardrobes, shelving and panelling are found throughout many first and second-floor rooms.

A plain rectangular-plan Gate Lodge, built around 1880, stands at the north-west entrance. Constructed of pale sandstone with overhanging eaves, it was refurbished and significantly extended to the rear in the late 20th century.