Description

ASHTEAD ASHTEAD PARK
TQ 1857-1957
8/7
7.9.51 Ashtead Park House
and attached
balustrades

GV II*

Large house, now school, and attached balustrades. Completed in 1790 by
Sir Thomas Wyatt, to designs by Joseph Bonomi, for Richard Bagoti; enlarged and
altered in or after 1880 by Sir Thomas Lucas. Yellow stock brick in Flemish
bond with Portland stone dressings, additions of Portland stone ashlar; lead
roof cladding. Rectangular plan on east west axis, with pavillions added at
both ends and service wing attached to the west end of that to the west.
Classicial style. The main block is of 3 storeys and 7 bays over a concealed
basement, symmetrical, with a string course, 1st floor sill-band, dentilled
cornice and balustraded parapet with corner urns; the wider central bay is
covered at ground floor by a prominent tetrastyle porte cochere of Tuscan
columns and pilasters with triglyph and wreath entablature, emphatic mutuled
cornice and balustraded parapet with corner urns, and the flanking bays have
a loggia in matching stule; and under the porte cochere is a glazed screen with
glazed double doors. Above the entrance, the centre has a 1st floor a tipartite
sashed window under a large segmental pediment in swan-neck form, and over this
a carved shield of arms in a blind window, flanked by narrow windows. Other-
wise, the windows on successive floors are 15, 12, and 6-pane sashes with
moulded stone architraves and set-in wooden blind-hoods. The sunk basement is
concealed by a Portland stone balustrade of vase balusters (some replaced in
concrete). The roof has 4 large rectangular chimneys with ashlar cornices. The
flanking single-storey 3-bay pavillions have balustraded parapets but otherwise
differ: that to the left (formerly the billiard room= has swagged Ionic
pilasters, a large tripartite window in the centre and panels in the outer bays;
that to the right (formerly the conservatory) has swagged Ionic semi-columns and
tall round-headed windows, and its 7-bay side wall has projected pedimented
outer bays and glazed double doors in the centre. The service wing of 2 low
storeys and 7 bays has 12- and 6-pane sashed windows with architraves matching
those of the main block, a hippd roof with 6 tall chimneys, and at the west end
a bellcote with round-headed openings, segmental pediment and domed cap. Also
included are the balustrades protecting the basement areas to front and rear.
Rear: the main block has a tetrastyle porch matching the style of the porte
cochere at the front, and fenestration likewise matching the front; the
pavillions have channelled rustication, their centres break forwards and have
panels over the windows carved with lions' masks and swags, their outer bays
have coved niches, and fire escapes are attached to both. Interior: entrance
hall (altered in Jacobean style in late C19), leading to circular saloon of
c.1790 which has scagliola columns with tonic caps and continuous plaster frieze
including lyres and anthemions, Adam-style ceiling, double doors in the cardinal
sides and coved niches in the others; on the east side of this, a drawing room
with fine Palladian-style decoration including fluted Ionic pilasters at each
end, large picture panels with "trophies" of musical instruments, egg-and-dart
surrounds and elaborate foilated cresting, and a coved oval ceiling with similar
decoration; doglegged principal staircase with Adam-style bronze balustrade and
moulded plaster decoration, and secondary staircase with scrolled balustrade;
other principal rooms redecorated in late C19 in heavy Jacobean style.

Listing NGR: TQ1947557912

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547582

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas