Tredean

Tredean

Tredean is a large rambling two-storey and-attic house with a full basement, built of roughcast over rubble with some dressed rubble visible, particularly below windows. The chimneys are ashlar with distinctive moulded caps; two were rebuilt in the 1990s. Vertical timber framing appears in the gables and along the first floor of the entrance front. The house is designed in the Arts and Crafts style, strongly influenced by the Voysey 'Lakeland' manner then in vogue. Red tile roofs were recovered in the 1990s.

The house is situated terraced into a steep hillside and is oriented in an unconventional manner, with the main entrance on the garden side where there is only a small terrace above the garden, while the approach road leads to the service entrance facing the hillside. Published designs for the house show it largely as built but apparently on a much flatter site. The house faces west over the valley, with the east front set into the steep hillside.

The entrance front features a gable to the left with a ground floor pentice and mullioned lattice windows to the Dining Room. A long two-bay central range with buttress displays timber mullioned windows and vertical timber framing above. A projecting wing contains the Sitting Room, which has a semi-circular bay window. In the angle between them is a canted timber-framed gabled porch leading to the Entrance Hall. The Sitting Room features a large lateral stack with crowsteps. To the right is a one-bay section with a flat-topped dormer, followed by the single-storey gabled Billiard Room with a canted corner bay window containing ten panes of lattice windows and a leaded roof. Vertical framing, a large stack, and a roof-light mark this section. At the south end is the Billiard Room; the service wing occupies the north end. Seven large ashlar stacks in total, with distinctive moulded caps, form a very significant feature of the house design.

The east front displays similar details with a two-gable projecting wing and a two-storey ashlar projection in the angle, featuring stone mullioned windows. The service entrance is located in the angle of the Kitchen and Dining Room, a square projection with a corner porch and arched entrances, with a flat lead roof above the first floor and a large flat-topped six-light dormer to the right.

The interior is more Norman Shaw 'olde English' than Voysey in character and remains very unaltered, although some features are reproduction or were introduced in the 1990s. The Entrance Hall contains a stained splat baluster open-well stair with panelled walls, a splendid stone fireplace, and stained glass windows by Wragge of Manchester. The Dining Room has another fine stone fireplace and a panelled ceiling. The hall and corridor retain plank doors with original ironmongery and light fittings. The secondary staircase is painted white in the Queen Anne/Bedford Park manner. The Sitting Room has fitted bookcases in matching style, built in the 1990s, although the fireplace is original. The Billiard Room features an open-framed roof with four arched braced queen post trusses, the centre two supporting the skylight, and an elaborate brick and timber fireplace with beaten copper hood. The bedrooms contain contemporary doors, some original joinery and fireplaces, though they have been altered to some degree to accommodate extra bathrooms, mostly installed in what were formerly dressing rooms. A 1902 bathroom retains its original tiling and sanitary ware. The basement contains service rooms, boiler room, wine-store and similar facilities.