Skutterskelfe Hall, the Butler's Pantry, Rosedene and Briardene

Details

SKUTTERSKELFE SKUTTERSKELFE PARK NZ 40 NE 484071 5/116 Skutterskelfe Hall, The Butler's Pantry, Rosedene 23.6.66 and Briardene - II* House, 1838 by Salvin for the 10th Viscount Falkland. Porch added and interior remodelled in later C19. Now office block with 3 dwellings. Sandstone ashlar, herringbone-tooled sandstone to Rosedene and Briardene; graduated Lakeland slate roof. Classical style. U-plan. Entrance front 2 storeys, 7 bays with slightly recessed centre. Plinth, quoins, first-floor band and cill string, deep eaves cornice and parapet with balustraded panels and top cornice. 3-bay projecting porch has detached Tuscan columns, entablature with dentil cornice and open segmental pediment with achievement of arms. Half-glazed double door, under segment-headed overlight, between matching sidelights, all openings in architraves with keystones rising to cornice. Similar windows in returns; balustraded parapet. Ground floor plain sash windows in architraves with moulded cills and apron panels. First floor 12-pane sashes in architraves, bracketed below cill string. Central sash, on raised panel, has console-bracketed cornice and segmental pediment. 2 corniced transverse stacks near centre of roof. 5-bay left return similar except for central ground-floor window with swell frieze and cornice. Set back on left a domestic wing of 2 lower storeys; plinth, first-floor cill string, cornice and blocking course, 12-pane sashes. Right return largely concealed by extensions: a) 1-storey l-bay link to The Butler's Pantry, a 1-storey flat-roofed 2-bay apartment stepped back to right. Glazed door with tall overlight; 12-pane sashes in apartment and link. Glazed door and modern casement on right return which joins b) Rosedene and Briardene: 2 low storeys, 6 irregular bays. One 4-panel door, one French door and one boarded door; windows mostly 12-pane sashes above and plain sashes or casements below. Elevations to courtyard: Left side is rear of Rosedene and Briardene: l½ storeys on basement, rising to 2 storeys, with varied doors and windows. Centre is rear of The Butler's Pantry: 4 bays: 12-pane sashes and central inserted French door. Right bay is part of main house. Right side of courtyard is rear of main house. Principal feature is a 3½ storey staircase tower with floor cornices, 12-pane sashes and a low-pitched tower with floor cornices, 12-pane sashes and a low-pitched pyramidal roof with deep eaves soffit on long brackets. 3 blank wall panels below it at the back. From this a narrow linking bay, of 3 lower storeys, and a 2-storey right part, lead to a 1-storey stable-garage range partly enclosing the courtyard at the back. Mostly sash windows with glazing bars; 3 inserted garage doors. The 2-storey section has pedimented end. Interior: high-quality Victorian decoration lovingly restored throughout. tiled entrance hall with panelled dado and French-style rococo marble fireplace. Polished oak double entrance doors. Drawing-room to left has larger similar fireplace and lavish rococo plasterwork including ceiling rose and outer panels with foliage and shells, floral wall panels with serpentine heads and shorter panels over doors and below windows. Panelled dado and window shutters. Dining-room to right of hall retains its 1838 plaster cornice and frieze with acanthus and festoons. Panelled dado. Both rooms, have 6-panel oak doors with elaborate hinges and lockplates; similar but plainer doors elsewhere. At end of dining-room an elaborate 5-bay carved oak bookcase, with nodding central coat-of-arms and carved heads to all sections, probably removed from library at rear of house where its sister remains. Panelled shutters and reveals; carved rococo pelments over all 3 windows. Cantilevered open-well staircase through 2 floors, the upper flight an exact reproduction of the lower; slightly-ramped handrail, carved newel and cast iron balustrade with linked units, sloped on flight, curved outwards to bottom curtail step. Panelled dado; arcaded 2-x3-bay top lantern with barrelled roof. In library a plaster ceiling similar to drawing- room but simpler; and the other great bookcase holding a concealed door with mock shelves of books.

Listing NGR: NZ4837207084

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

333044

Legacy System:

LBS

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