Drapersfield House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey, five bay, gabled and rendered house with a single storey wing to one side and a long two-to-three storey rear return, 14 windows long, which itself returns at its end with a single storey wing.

It stands in a rural area, within its own grounds, set well back from the public road.

The main entrance front faces south-east. The south-east elevation of the main block is symmetrical with two windows to each side of a central two-storey gabled projection containing the main entrance porch. Walling is of smooth cement render to the main block, with a deep projecting plinth; and rough textured render to the central projection, which also has smooth rendered quoins, a stringcourse and a pedimental feature. The roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, containing three modern rooflights. There are two chimneys, one to each gable, smooth rendered with a plain cornice, and three octagonal pots to each stack.
Windows in the main block are rectangular timber vertically hung sashes, 6 over 6, without horns. Windows to the single storey wing are similarly sashed but with horns. The main entrance is in the right hand side of the central projection and comprises a rectangular timber panelled door set in plain reveals.

The south-west elevation consists of the blank gable of the main block, smooth rendered, with the single storey wing projecting from it. The gable of the wing contains a rectangular door and a rectangular window which is of modern construction consisting of a fixed lower light and a top-hung vent, both with small panes, to give the general appearance of a traditionally sashed window. There is also a projecting chimney breast which is topped by one modern pot.

The north-west or rear elevation consists of the roof of the main front block, slated as previous, with the wall of the main front block almost totally obscured by the conjoined and variegated mass of an original rear return, a modern rear return, and a modern infill block between the returns.

The original rear return has a slated roof, with a blank gable, smooth rendered, surmounted by a red brick chimney. There is a modern rectangular window of fixed light and top-hung vents in its partly exposed right hand side. The rest of that side and the lower part of its gable have modern single storey extensions projecting from them.

The modern rear return is of three storeys as viewed from the rear yard of the house, with a flat roof on this side. Walls are smooth rendered while windows are rectangular, some small paned, but most of them large fixed lights with top-hung vents. There is a steel fire escape stairway leading from a second floor door. The small infill block between old and new returns is flat roofed, with a slate-hung exposed side, and top-hung vent lights.

Projecting from both the old and new returns are modern single-storey gabled and slated wings containing modern fixed lights and top-hung vents. The gable of the modern rear return is of asymmetrical form, with a raking roofline to the left rising to a flat-roofed attic storey to the right. There are three storeys of window openings containing modern framing types, with two doorways to the ground floor.

The north-east elevation consists of the two-storey gable of the main front block with a long two-storey rear return extending to the right. The gable of the main front block is smooth rendered and contains one window to each floor sashed as previous to the entrance front, but with horns. The return is similarly rendered, has a slated pitched roof, incorporating modern flush rooflights, and has rectangular windows sashed as to the gable.

SETTING

The building is approached by a driveway through a main gateway of modern construction comprising square rendered piers with modern iron gates. The driveway is flanked by trees and shrubs and leads to an extensive hard surfaced car park along the north-east side of the building and round the north side to a hard-surfaced rear yard. At the main entrance front the doorway is approached by a flight of concrete flagged steps bounded by low rendered walls with modern railings. A similarly paved terrace extends across the front of the house. Beyond that is a small area of modern landscaping which includes a crudely designed modern classical open aedicule as a garden feature, this area bounded on the south side by a modern rendered wall to separate the nursing home grounds from the grounds of an associated private house to the south-west. The rear yard is subdivided by modern timber fencing, and has a variety of ground finishes including tarmac and small pavoirs.

The garden to the north-east also contains modern landscaping including linked ponds with a modern ironwork bridge and similar railings. The front boundary consists of modern rendered piers and plinth walls with railings.

Historical information

The precise date of the building is not recorded but a previous house appears on the OS map of 1832 while the present house (before later institutional extensions) appears on the OS map of 1906. The survival of early features indicates a mid Eighteenth century core surviving.

The house was vacant in 1973, but refurbished in the early 1980s and extended by an addition to the rear return in c 1992-5.

References - Primary Sources
1. OS Map of 1832 (shows previous house).
2. OS Map of 1906 (shows present house).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey, five bay, gabled and rendered house with a single storey wing and extensive returns. This is an early 19th century house of moderate interest in its original state but still retaining elements of special interest worthy of listing, along with the age of the main house.