Description

SP 80 NW ELLESBOROUGH CHEQUERS

2/7 Chequers

21.6.55

- I

Mansion. Built 1565 for William Hawtrey, possibly incorporating
remains of earlier building. S. front completed early C17. Remodelled
in Gothick style early C19 for Robert Greenhill Russell by
William Atkinson, pupil of James Wyatt. Restored to Elizabethan
appearance c.1890-1917 by Sir Reginald Blomfield for Astley family
and Sir Arthur Lee, Viscount Fareham. Brick with stone dressings
and old tile roofs. Diagonal brick chimney shafts with offset
heads. Courtyard plan with C19 central infill. 2 storeys and
attic. N. front of 8 bays retains most original detail, with
stone quoins, string courses, and parapet coping carried over 5
small gables. 4-light stone mullion windows, double transomed
and part renewed, with canted bay windows to bays 2 and 6. These
bays have shaped stone parapets with C16 heraldic devices. 5 cross
windows to attic. Door to right of centre with 4-centred stone arch
and carved spandrels. S. front has 7 original bays, the outer and
centre bays gabled and projecting. Narrow bays flanking centre are
recessed and have first floor stone frieze with Astley motto
"Justitia tenax". Late C19 stone mullion and transom windows,
matching those of N. front, the centre having a rectangular bay
window with heraldic parapet. Double doors in segmental stone arch in
3rd bay. Taller gabled bay added to left mid C19 by E.B. Lamb.
Irregular E. front with 2-storey porch by Blomfield c.1910. On
E. and S. sides of house are gardens surrounded by brick walls of
1912, the S. garden having small corner pavilions with ogee tile
roofs, stone cornices and mullion windows, and 4-centred stone arches
with Tudor hoodmoulds. S. garden also has 1970s glazed arcade to
covered swimming pool along W. side,and sunken centre with brick
walls. Gate between gardens has 3 stone obelisk finials. E. gate piers
have similar finials on scrolls. Interior of house much refurbished
early C20, with plaster ceilings in Elizabethan style and re-used
C16-C17 panelling, not original to house. House given to the nation
by Sir Arthur Lee 1917 as a country residence for the Prime Minister.
(J. Gilbert Jenkins, Chequers, 1967).

Listing NGR: SP8419605663

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Chequers at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q1070192

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2