Heaton Hall

Details

MANCHESTER

SD80SW HEATON PARK, Crumpsall 698-1/2/624 Heaton Hall 25/02/52

GV I

Country house, now museum and art gallery (etc). Mid C18, remodelled 1772-89 by James Wyatt for Sir Thomas Egerton, enlarged and orangery added c.1823 by Lewis Wyatt. Sandstone ashlar with dressings of Coade stone, hipped slate roofs. Long range on east-west axis, composed of central block linked by colonnaded wings to octagonal pavilions (kitchen to west, library to east), with 1823 additions to north side of wings and pavilions, and orangery continued at east end. Palladian style. One and two storeys with entrance front to north and principal facade to south, both symmetrical. The south facade, entirely by James Wyatt, is composed of a 2-storey 5-bay centre with a prominent 3-window bow, flanked by single-storey 7-bay wings with tall colonnades mounted on steps and linked to slightly higher octagonal single-storey pavilions. The centre block has steps up to the bow flanked by a lion and lioness of cast lead on stone pedestals; giant Ionic semi-columns to the bow and pilasters to the outer bays, a guilloche string-course, plain frieze, cornice and blocking course; its bow has 12- and 9-pane sashed windows, Coade stone panels between floors depicting classical rustic scenes, and a shallow domed lead roof; and each outer bay has a large Venetian window in a blank arch at ground floor, and a 9-pane sash above. The colonnades have fluted friezes enriched with antique ox-skulls (bucrania), and very tall 15-pane windows (those of the left wing now boarded). The pavilions each have pilasters and a frieze like the colonnades, a cornice and high parapet, a large Venetian window in the centre and swagged panels over the windows in the canted side bays. The north front of the main block, 2:3:2 bays, with pedimented centre breaking forwards, 1st-floor sill-band, moulded cornice and blocking course, has a tetrastyle portico mounted on steps, tall 12-pane sashed windows at ground floor, horizontal panels above these, and 9-pane sashed windows at 1st floor; and attached at each side of this are the 1823 additions to the rear of the wings, 2 lower storeys and 7 bays each, with pilasters and sashed windows (differing slightly), and massive clustered chimney stacks. The former orangery to the east, facing south, is a long symmmetrical single-storey range, 3:3:5:3:3 bays, with projected polygonal centre, the ends colonnaded and the rest pilastered with a full-height window in each bay, a moulded cornice and blocking course carried round the whole, and now with a flat roof replacing the original glazed central dome and pitched roofs. INTERIOR: fine original features including entrance hall, staircase hall with imperial staircase and colonnaded landing, saloon, dining room, billiard room, music room, library, and at 1st floor the Cupola Room which has very rare survival of complete Etruscan style decoration; for details, see "Heaton Hall: a Short Account of its History and Architecture", Manchester City Council, 1984. East wing and kitchen derelict and restoration suspended at time of survey, containing some original features, e.g. servants' stairs, fielded panel cupboards in former house-keeper's room, and 2 large segmental-arched fireplaces in opposed walls of kitchen. (Manchester City Council: Heaton Hall: a short account of its History and Architecture: 1984-).

Listing NGR: SD8331904422

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

388172

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Heaton Hall: A Short Account of its History and Architecture, (1984)

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 18 Greater Manchester,

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