Lydart House

Lydart House is a two-and-a-half-story building, originally an L-plan farmhouse, dating back to an earlier period with a substantial 18th-century wing added later. The front facade presents as a long and elegant six-window structure, white-painted, with a simple round-headed doorway offset slightly to the right. It features symmetrically arranged hornless 12-pane sash windows on both floors, and a set of four small eyebrow dormers, offset to the right, within a hipped roof swept over prominent bracketed eaves.

However, the core of the building consists of the earlier farmhouse, comprising a two-unit main range – the center and right-hand end of the present house, as defined by a ridge chimney offset to the left – and a short, single-unit rear wing to its left. The rear wing is now enclosed by later additions to its west end and north side. A raised terrace in the southwest angle reveals the survival of a basement level from the 18th-century wing.

The sloping ground falls from front to rear, with several basement-level openings providing access to a full suite of cellars for the entire house. The rear of the house showcases a ground-floor canted bay with multi-paned sash glazing, and a corresponding tripartite sash window above. The north side has a large, round-headed sash stair-window with radiating glazing bars, and a full-height canted bay near the rear corner. Each floor of the canted bay features a round-headed sash window with radiating glazing bars, a painted keystone, and thin imposts that run out around each side, where they cross the heads of small eight-pane sashes.

The front door opens into a hall-shaped room with a low ceiling featuring boxed-in beams, and a fireplace in the south end wall. Evidence of earlier fireplaces was found by the current owners in this wall. A full-height cupboard within the kitchen’s angled wall has an arched stone roof and possibly marks the site of a former entrance doorway to the hall. The rear wall of the hall is particularly thick, concealing a circulation passage. At the north end of this passage is a dog-legged staircase with open string and intricately carved “chinoiserie” balustrading. The roof structure, visible within the house, comprises four bays on the main (north-south) axis, with exposed collar trusses and purlins, mirroring the construction over the original rear wing.