Details
BESTWOOD ST. ALBANS BESTWOOD PARK
SK 54 NE
4/1 Bestwood Lodge
Hotel and terrace
wall
13.12.72
G.V. II*
Country house, now an hotel. 1862. Additions 1869, 1897, 1980.
By. S. S. Teulon for the 10th Duke of St. Albans. Figure
carvings by Thomas Earp. Gothic Revival style. Brick with
gabled, hipped and pyramid slate roofs. Ashlar and moulded brick
dressings. Polychrome decoration. Elaborate corbelled eaves.
Traceried balustrades. Gabled dormers. 3 storeys plus
basements, 5 unequal bays. Irregular facades. C-plan. 3 gable,
5 ridge and 6 side wall stacks. Windows are plain sashes and
lancets of various types. Coped gables mostly with finials.
Main west front has off-centre tower porch with pierced flanking
buttresses with finials. Moulded pointed door with flanking
shafts. To its left, double lancet. Beyond, to left, link,
single storey, with gabled glazed roof and slate verges. To
west, Diocletian window with hipped hood. To right, flat roofed
bay window and beyond, lean-to corridor with 3 lancets. To right
again, octagonal corner tower, 1897, 4 stages, with pyramidal
roof and irregular small lancets. Above, porch has canted
balustraded oriel on vaulted bracket with band of carved masks.
Flanked by single double lancets. Beyond to right, a double
lancet. Above again, porch has canted flat roofed bay window
with 3 lancets, each with inscribed panel referring to Royal
visit, 1878. To right, pinnacled gabled dormer and beyond, gable
with double lancet. Above again, tower has single lancet.
Pyramidal roof with 4 gabled lucarnes and finial. Chapel and
service range, to north, has crow stepped west gable and bell
turret with spire. Double lancet, and above, 3 smaller lancets.
To its right, lower buttressed range, 3 bays, with 9 small
lancets. To right again, square tower with stepped stair lights
and above, 3 small lancets each side. To its left, late C20
porch. Above, 4 sashes. Above again, to right, 2 large dormers.
West gable has quadruple lancet with transom bearing heraldic
panels. North side has to left, square corner tower and
adjoining gabled game larder. To its right off-centre 2 storey
wing with hipped roof. To right, buttressed chapel range.
Above, to left, 5 light mullioned and transomed casement. To its
right, 9 unequally spaced sashes. Above again, 7 sashes. To
right, external stack with datestone inscribed 'This house was
commenced AD 1862 by William Amelius Aubrey De Vere Beauclerk,
10th Duke of St. Albans, on the site of a Hunting Lodge of King
Edward IIIrd. and was completed AD 1865. Samuel Saunders Teulon,
Architect. James Burford, Clerk of Works". To its right, double
lancet. Above again, crow stepped gable, flanked by 2 dormers.
Courtyard south side has to left, buttressed drill hall, late
C19, 5 bays, with timber framed first floor and dormers. South
side has 5 mullioned casements. East end has figure carved panel
above central Tudor arched door. Orangery, to right, late C19,
has full width balustraded addition, 1980. Crow stepped west
gable has canted bay window. South side has 7 C20 casements.
House south side has irregular Gothic fenestration. To left,
lean-to porch, and above to its right, large triple lancet stair
window. To right, square bay window with a triple lancet on each
floor. To its right, half round hipped turret with 3 lancets on
each floor. To right again, corner tower with 4 lancets on each
floor and second floor with gabled lancet. Irregular gabled east
front has to left, wing with balustraded bay window with 4
sashes. To its right, balustraded stair turret with 2 tiers of
stepped lancets. To right again, projecting bay with a triple
lancet on each floor. To right again, square corner tower.
Above, irregular fenestration with sashes, lancets and mullioned
casements. Above again, gables and dormers with lancets. Tower
to right has niche with full size figure. Vaulted porch and
entrance hall have moulded doorways with shafts and carved
tympani. Square central hall has oak panelling, early C20. North
side has central Gothic fireplace with single flanking niches
containing heraldic animals. East side has 3 bay arcade with
ringed marble piers and moulded arches with hood moulds. West
side has central niche containing relief of Robin Hood. Above,
south, east and west sides have panelled gallery with foliate
iron balustrade. South side has arch brackets on corbels. East
and west sides have 3 bay arcades with marble piers and hood
moulds. Above again, ceiling carried on traceried arch brackets
and corbels. Octagonal lantern with traceried panelled drum, and
octagonal pendant. Wrought iron hanging lamp, Gold Room has to
south a half round bay with pointed arch carried on freestanding
pier. Panelled matchboarded ceiling painted with rosettes.
Orangery has iron rib vault. Other principal rooms have pierced
cornices and matchboard ceilings. Stone cantilevered dogleg main
stair has wrought iron balustrade and square iron newels.
Outside, to east and to south, rockfaced ashlar terrace wall, L-
plan, approx. 60M long. East side has central double stairs with
curved brick flanking walls. This building is an outstandingly
complete major work of S. S. Teulon.
Listing NGR: SK5695246506
