Description

NZ 26 NE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE BEMERSYDE DRIVE (north side, off)

9/91 La Sagesse School, Jesmond
Towers, (Formerly listed in
17.12.71 Jesmond Dene Road.)

G.V. II*

Large house, now school. Early C19, additions 1817 and 1823-7 by Dobson for Sir
Thomas Burdon; enlarged 1869 by T. Oliver and 1884 by T.R. Spence for Charles
Mitchell. Sandstone ashlar, with Welsh slate roofs to canted bays and graduated
Lakeland slate roofs elsewhere. Irregular plan. Gothic style. 2 and 3 storeys,
9 irregular bays. Partly-glazed door recessed in Gothic porch with panelled
ceiling; 4-light flanking windows with Y-tracery. 2 cusped lights to square-headed
windows above, with tall panelled buttresses flanking entrance bay and ending in
pinnacles. Pierced balustrade either side and central stepped parapet with coat
of arms. A variety of canted, oriel and square bay windows with stone mullions,
some also transomed, and some traceried; drip moulds, buttresses, parapets, some
gabled with sloping battlements, some pierced. Gallery at left has high central
parapet and corner turrets with large acanthus bud finials. 3-storey tower to rear
has battlemented parapet. Interior shows stone-arched entrance hall with tiled
floor; Gothic ashlar chimney piece and similar-style cast iron grate; vine and
oak carving to corniced surrounds of billiard-room doors which have painted glass
panels; high quality painted glass in other windows in billiard room, gallery and
small sitting room at right end. The latter has finely-moulded stucco cornice and
frieze with foliage patterns; painted dado in arts-and-crafts style. Stair in
right part of house has delicate Gothic balustrade, with pendants to landing
triple arch; and stucco Gothic-panelled soffits above doors. Gallery at left,
built to display paintings, has top lights and end windows; ornate stucco frieze
and cornice, panelled coved ceiling.
Source: W.F. Dendy "An Account of Jesmond" Archaeologia Aeliana 3 I 173-4;
Newcastle Daily Journal 16 January 1865; Tyne and Wear Archives Department
T186/365, T186/10335.

Listing NGR: NZ2532967174

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q69103126

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)