Details
SK 24 SW PARISH OF BRAILSFORD DERBY ROAD
5/20 (North Side)
13.9.67 Ednaston Manor and attached
walls and terracing
I
Small country house. 1912-19 for W G Player, by Edwin Lutyens. Queen Anne style.
Reddish brown Bedfordshire brick laid in Flemish bond, with sandstone dressings..
Steeply pitched, plain tile, hipped roofs with massive central brick stack and four
massive brick ridge stacks. Two storeys and attics, and single storey angle pavilions.
H-plan with broad centre stroke running west to east. All facades are symmetrical with
white painted wooden casement windows under flat arches, the casements with small
panes and thick glazing bars. West elevation of five unequal bays, divided by giant
pilasters with slightly projecting entasis and capitals, with wreath motifs. The
centre two crowned by a triangular pediment. White painted coved eaves cornice.
Central doorway with lugged architrave and heavy swan neck pediment, enclosing the
Player armorial trophy. Glazed double doors. Two windows either side with brick
voussoirs and key blocks to the outer windows. The inner windows narrower. Similar
fenestration above. Blind end bays set back, with a corresponding break in the roof.
Two small hipped roof dormers close to the middle. Stone plinth and stone band,
linking the ground floor windows and continuing as the plinth and coping to the
forecourt walls, which form a semi-circular courtyard with two drive entrances and a
central entrance, providing a view to and from the main entrance. Single storey
pavilions, visually separate, at the angles. That to the south is a garden house,
linked by a wall with gateway with lugged architrave. That to the north is a billiard
room built-in 1980, an intended part of Lutyen's design. South elevation of eight
bays, the outer four projecting. Stone plinth,band, and coved eaves cornice continue
from the west elevation. Central doorway with Doric pilasters and an open pediment
containing a wreath of saffron flowers. French doors, flanked bv tall narrow windows
under flat arches with brick voussoirs. French doors on either side with lugged
architraves. Four windows above. The outer bays of the recessed central section
deliniated by giant pilasters with capitals in the form of relief monograms of members
of the Player family. Return walls with pilasters either side of French doors with
lugged architraves and asped alcoves above with aprons. Projecting outer bays have
two large windows to ground floor and two smaller windows above, flanked by giant
pilasters. Garden pavilions to south west and south east, with hipped roofs and
Tuscan Doric columns, linked by walls and gateways and enclosing a raised terrace
with formal flower beds and herringbone brick paths. Plainer east elevation of five
bays, 1-3-1. Plinth, band and coved cornice continued from south elevation. Two
hipped roof dormers between chimney stacks, as on the west elevation. Three tier
terrace with brick retaining walls and stone flagged steps descended to lower garden
level. North elevation of nine bays, 2-5-2, with more vernacular appearance for the
service end of the house. Centre recessed bays with twin gables and dormers on either
side. Single storey service wing to north east, linked by a covered way to a
building containing potting shed and outhouses. The main entrance leads into a small
circular inner porch, a modest entrance hall with black and white marble floor, and
then diagonally into the long main hall, forming the whole of the south side of the
centre stroke of the H-plan. Symmetrical, low, delicate plaster ceiling, panelling,
and broad Italian marble chimney piece with bolection moulding. Small panelled
drawing room to the south west, fireplace with lugged surround. Dining room to the
south east, also panelled and with a marble chimney piece. Main staircase hall to
north west with a view back through a series of arches to the entrance hall. Hopton
stone staircase with wrought iron balustrade. Service rooms to north east. Dog
leg back staircase with open string and three turned balusters per tread. Partly lit
by semi-circular borrowed lights with open traceried fanlights. First floor has inter-
connecting bedrooms with brick fireplaces and built-in cupboards on west, south and
east sides, and bathrooms on the north side. Linked by a C-plan corridor with
arches and plaster cross vaults. Second floor rooms lit by dormers and from two
internal courts. All guttering and waste pipes hidden within the walls. Ednaston
Manor was described by Lutyen's biographer, A G S Butler, as "perhaps the most
perfect country house that Lutyens designed".
Listing NGR: SK2384642276
