Swinden House

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 30/06/2016

SK49SW
5/55

ROTHERHAM
MOORGATE ROAD (east side, off)
Swinden House

II
Large house formerly known as Red House. By E F C Clarke (Architect), c1880 for T W Badger (Rotherham Advertiser) with C20 additions; later offices and conference centre. Thinly-coursed sandstone to ground floor, red brick in English bond above, ashlar dressings, terracotta cornices and parapets, red tile roofs.

H-shaped plan with central part largely infilled by front range having double-roofed block to rear. 2 storeys with attics, 1:3:1 bays to garden front, entrance in left return. In Jacobethan style.
Garden front: plinth, quoins to ground floor. Ovolo-mould mullioned and transomed windows with renewed casements. Two 1st-floor string courses and 2-course ashlar band at mid-height of 1st floor. Wing projections each have a 2-storey bay window with paired 2-light windows with 2 transoms and carved apron panels beneath similar, single-transomed, 1st-floor windows; dentilled cornices and balustrades with ball finials. Wing gables each have 2-light window beneath pedimented feature; ball finials and ovolo-profiled foot to gable copings with iron apex finials. Recessed central bays have single-storey projection to bay 4 with doorway (now window) in left return and 4-light window having king mullion and 2 transoms; small 3-light transomed window above. Central bay has paired cross-windows to each floor, dentilled cornice above upper-window with 2 single-light windows to finialled gable. Small windows to bay 2. Dentilled cornice and balustrade above bays 2 and 4. Stack to front roof slope above bay 2 has quoined base and grouped octagonal flues with corbelled top; projecting end stacks in same style. Left return: balanced elevation with elaborate doorway near centre in slight projection shared by lateral stack to its left. Doorway has steps up to C20 double doors within round archway flanked by pilasters with ribbed panels. Well-carved foliage on alternate voussoirs, projecting keystone, spandrels, capitals and frieze. Modillioned cornice with blocking course and attached ball finials. Flanking cross windows have cornices. Transomed 3-light window above door and 4-light mullioned window to finialled gable. To right of door projection a large 4-light stair window with king mullion and 2 transoms. Lateral stack in slight projection to right. Eaves cornice and stacks as front.

Interior: painted glass panels to overlight of lobby screen. Entrance hall has oak-panelled dada and 6-panel doors in original architraves, oak-panelled dining room off hall. Good oak staircase with helical-turning to balusters. Library with large ashlar fireplace archway with keyed voussoirs; good plaster ceilings with enriched cornices.

T W Badger, member of a notable family of Rotherham lawyers, disappeared in 1882 and the sale of the house contents is described in Rotherham Advertiser, 16 Sept 1882, p8. Badger's monogram is preserved on some gable apex finials. Together with George Wood, E F C Clarke was responsible for the design of offices built for Messrs Badger and Rhodes still standing lower down Moorgate (now Pushley and Hodgkinson) (Drawing in hands of Archives and Local Studies section of Rotherham Central Library). C20 addition to right return and rear left not of special interest. (The Architect, May 5, 1877.)

Listing NGR: SK4432591163

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

335690

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Rotherham Advertiser in 16 September, (1882), 8
The Architect in 5 May, (1877)

End of official list entry

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