West Lodge to Abbey House With Attached Gatehouse and Wing Walls

Summary

Lodge and gatehouse with attached wing walls, 1914 for Vickers Ltd. Architect unknown. Tudor Revival style.

Reasons for Designation

West Lodge with attached gatehouse and wing walls, constructed in 1914 for Vickers of Barrow, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: an accomplished and well-executed design with good articulation and Tudor revival style detailing;
* Historic interest: constructed for Abbey House, Vickers of Barrow's entertainment suite for prospective buyers of battleships, and bearing the company coat of arms;
* Group value: it benefits from a functional and spatial group value with a number of listed buildings associated with Furness Abbey, including the Grade II* listed Abbey House Hotel.

History

This building was constructed in 1914 for Vickers of Barrow, as a gatehouse and W lodge to Abbey House. The latter was constructed in 1913-14 for Vickers Ltd as a residence for their Managing Director and as a guesthouse to entertain ministers and heads of state for the purpose of selling warships and armaments. Although Edward Lutyens was the architect of Abbey House, surviving plans for the lodge and gatehouse are not in his hand and the architect for these buildings is unknown.

Details

Lodge and gatehouse with attached wing walls, 1914 for Vickers Ltd. Architect unknown. Tudor Revival style.

MATERIALS: rock-faced red sandstone with ashlar dressings; the roof is concealed by the parapet.

PLAN: rectangular lodge on the left of a large square gatehouse; attached wing walls with that to the S incorporating a semi-octagonal turret.

EXTERIOR: there is a chamfered plinth and quoining to all elevations, and all windows to the W elevation have leaded glass.

The gatehouse has a moulded, pointed arch beneath an architraved plaque with the date 1914 and the arms of Vickers Ltd. There are first-floor windows to each side beneath a parapet carried on a bold corbel table. A corbelled turret exits to the right corner. A taller octagonal stair turret on the left has a door in the left return and transomed single-light windows and blind loops beneath an oversailing parapet. Beneath the archway there is a coffered ceiling and broad arches to the left and right, fitted with timber and glass screens. The two-storey lodge has a studded oak door and a mullioned window to the right beneath a continuous hoodmould, and a cross cross-window above. Angled forwards on the left is a two-storey canted bay with three transomed windows to each floor. A tall stack rises from the front left return. The serpentine wing walls are of rusticated sandstone with triangular copings, and they step up to square end piers with pyramidal caps. That to the right incorporates a small semi-octagonal turret. The flanking wing wall with octagonal turret which forms the western elevation of the dwelling contributes to the special interest of the listed building and is included in the listing.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the dwelling attached to the rear of the right wing wall is not of special architectural or historic interest.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

388382

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Hyde, M, The Buildings of England: Cumbria, (2010), 360

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