Sir David Salomons House Wall and Terrace to South

Details

SOUTHBOROUGH SPELDHURST ROAD (south side) 1/6 Sir David Salomons' house wall and terrace to south 14-3-73 (formerly Broomhill House) - II

Irregular and complex Italianate house begun in 1820s but with additions until 1913. Cottage originally extended by Decimus Burton, 1829 for Sir David Salomons (1797-1873), the Jewish Merchant Banker, Lord Mayor of London in 1855 and MP for Greenwich. Mainly 3 storeys of Tunbridge Wells ashlar blocks. East front: L-shaped with stone parapet and balustrade. Ground floor has recessed centre to south. Slate roof. Many stone chimney stacks, some pots concealed by semicircular caps like acroteria. Irregular fenestration on two and three storeys with some sashes and some casements. 2 colonnades of Tuscan columns forming balcony on 1st floor. Plain doorcase with rectangular overlight and linenfold panelled door. South front: Garden elevation also of 3 storeys with balustraded parapet, dated 1854. 3 casements with a cast iron balcony to the 2nd floor and balcony at 1st floor level supported by 14 Roman Corinthian columns and pilasters. West front: In similar style but with later additions to the left. 2 cast iron balconies on 2nd floor. Ionic portico. Former library projecting to left with round-headed windows flanked by Roman Corinthian half columns. To left of library is 1913 extension plus the late C19 theatre, white brick with row of 5 octagonal cupolas along ridge of roof. Rusticated terrace wall decorated with urns and a flight of stone steps front the house to the south. Interior: Entrance hall with marble steps and imposing open well staircase with scrolled tread ends and 1 spiral baluster to each tread. Spiral newel post and handrail decorated with carved ivy leaves. Gold Room, formerly sitting room, in Louis XVI style with fine decorated cornices, marble fireplace and decorated built-in cornice. room to left in same style with coved ceiling. These two rooms form the Memento Rooms, displaying objects belonging to Salomons and his son, and are open to the public. His son was an early technologist, among other things powering the house by electricity completely by 1884, including lighting, and holding the world's first motor show in the grounds in 1905. He built the theatre for the demonstration of machinery. It has cast iron columns and the original painted back-cloths together with a permanent stage set in Parliamentary Gothic-style remain. The most important relic is the electric organ, by Welte of Hamburg, in the theatre, the earliest and largest electric organ of its age in the world. It could be played mechanically by the insertion of rolls, a collection of which remains in the house.

Listing NGR: TQ5689041722

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

169341

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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