Mansion House including railings to street

The Mansion House is an early 19th-century town house built around 1820 by a lawyer, Richard Griffiths-Parry, as his own residence. It served as a private house until approximately 1918 before being converted to offices, and now accommodates the County Court.

The main elevation is faced with lined-out render over local rubble stonework to the rear. The west wing is ashlar faced with a hipped roof to the rear, while the kitchen wing is rendered and the right-hand wing is brick faced with rubble in the gable end. Slate roofs are topped by end-wall stacks. The front of the house is three stories high, with a broad three-window arrangement and a central entrance. A portico porch supported by coupled Doric columns and engaged shafts carries a heavy cornice and blocking course. The ground floor features two 12-pane sash windows on either side of the entrance. Similar 12-pane sashes are found on the first floor, with a continuous sill band; the upper storey has 9-pane sashes. A moulded wood parapet cornice tops the façade. To the rear, the west wing has three floor-length small-paned French windows on the ground floor, and 12-pane sashes above. The kitchen wing’s lower storey is obscured by later extensions, but the first floor retains similar 2-pane sashes. The right-hand wing has horizontally sliding small-paned sashes to the ground floor in its return elevation to the east.

Inside, the principal rooms are situated to either side of the central entrance hall, and in the western rear wing, connected by a principal staircase between the two western rooms. The kitchen, service rooms and a back staircase are located in the eastern rear wing. The shallow dog-leg staircase features enriched cast iron balusters, a swept rail, moulded tread ends, and a top-lit lantern with radial glazing. A considerable amount of original detailing remains, including ornamented marble fire surrounds, enriched cast-iron grates, and moulded plaster cornices; notably, a deep vine scroll frieze is present in a lower rear room. The former kitchen retains a large cast-iron range manufactured by Flavel and Co of Leamington.

Spearhead railings with a lattice band and urn finials to the principal posts enclose a narrow forecourt to either side of the porch.

The Mansion House is a high-quality early 19th-century town house retaining much of its original character, both externally and in its internal arrangement.