Stanage Park

Stanage Park is an asymmetrical country house, largely dating from the early 19th century, with substantial additions and alterations throughout the 1800s. The north block, attributed to Repton, is two and three storeys high. A prominent great tower rises over the entrance, and a splayed angle tower stands to the right. The exterior is characterised by cement render, freestone dressings, and coursed rubble plinths, with battlemented and corbelled parapets that step up at the towers. Sash windows are set in plain or splayed reveals, featuring slender glazing bars, but without dripmoulds.

The south front of the house, facing the main approach, is constructed of ashlar in a mixed Gothic and baronial style. In 1845, a gabled dining-room extension was added, featuring a castellated and traceried bay window, and flanking that is a smaller bay window incorporating a chimney. Further additions include a low-fronted billiard room, a three-storey baronial tower, and a domestic range with a decorative corbelled cross-gable and a round tower flanking the gateway. Shallow castellated bays were added to the right side of the main block in 1833, along with a third bay on the return elevation, which culminates in a diagonal buttress topped by a slender turret. A one-window extension with a castellated corner turret and a lower screen wall extends to the garden to the north.

The rear elevation presents an informal appearance, including a modern one-storey dining room in castellated style and a kitchen range that incorporates a picturesque dairy block with conical pinnacles on its corner buttresses and a louvred ventilator to the hipped slate roof. A tall castellated tower with a polygonal staircase is located further to the right.

The long east terraces are enclosed by low castellated walls extending to ha-has. Periodically placed, rectangular exedras are supported by piers with classical urns. A summerhouse dated 1900 stands at the southeast corner, featuring a conical stone-tiled roof. A plain garden wall runs back to connect with the buildings at the stable courtyard.

The interiors of Repton’s public rooms, originally facing the east front, were largely remodelled in a Tudorbethan style by Haycock. The long drawing room (formerly the entrance hall and dining room) includes a flat ribbed ceiling and a rib vault to the corner bay, along with a gothic dining piece. A fine openwell staircase leads to a rear neo-classical hall featuring a raised lantern, enriched coving and cornices, architraves, and a cast iron handrail with unusual crossover uprights. A vaulted entrance hall dates from 1845, and Gothic interiors can be found in the dining room and billiard room of the south extensions.