Pippins

Details

TQ 64 SE BRENCHLEY GEDGES HILL (west side)

6/83 Pippins

GV II

House, converted from a studio, designed in 1883 by John Belcher for Theresa Sassoon, an oil painter. Extensions and alterations of the late C20. Main block English bond brick to the ground floor, the first floor framed construction. Rear wing English bond brick; peg-tile roofs; brick stacks. Vernacular Revival style.

Plan: Sited behind (west of) Weirleigh (q.v.), bought by the Sassoon family in 1882. Overall L-plan. The main block is roofed on a west east axis and entered on the north side. A rear (west) wing, one-room on plan, heated by a stack at the junction between the 2 blocks. This has been extended to the south giving 2 rooms. Stair projection on the north side. The plan has been altered in the C20, but the original arrangement is still largely discernable. The main block contained an entrance hall and stair with probably a small service room to the east. The crosswing consisted of a large full-height single-storey room heated by a fire with an Arts and Crafts inglenook. The first floor of the main block was one large panelled room heated from the same stack which has a section of horizontal flue. This first floor room has been subdivided and the single-storey room in the wing has an inserted floor.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical one-window east end, the framed first floor jettied with a moulded fascia board, the gable above coved and jettied, the eaves with moulded bargeboards. The ground floor has a 5-light bay window with moulded timber mullions. The first floor bay window is similar with a high transom, both windows glazed with square leaded panes. The first floor framing includes a frieze of quatrefoils below the window, close studding and ogee braces. The panels in the gable are filled with studs in herringbone patterns. The right (north) return has 2 gables to the right, one the stair projection with the porch alongside to the left, the far right hand gable is the end of the crosswing. The porch is flat-roofed and has evidently been altered although the deep brackets supporting the roof are original as is the Tudor arched ovolo-moulded doorframe and moulded panelled front door on the east return. C20 2-light casement with square leaded panes on the north side of the porch. The gable end of the crosswing is divided into 2 bays by 3 full height brick buttresses with moulded stone set-offs. The original windows in the end of the wing have unfortunately been replaced by C20 metal-framed casements. The first floor of the main block, to the left, is timber-framed with close-studding and ogee braces and a 6-light mullioned transomed window with moulded mullions and transoms and square leaded panes. The stair projection, to the right, has one ground floor one-light stone window with a chamfered frame and blind trefoil above. The first floor is jettied with a moulded fascia, a 3-light transomed window matching the one in the main range, moulded bargeboards and elaborate framing including herringbone patterns and a frieze of diamond-shaped motifs with inward curving sides. The south return of the main block is in the same style but has had all but 2 of its original windows replaced by C20 metal-framed windows. It preserves an original panelled door in an ovolo-moulded frame and 3 bays of an original sturdy timber verandah with Tudor arches on plain posts. The verandah roof is now covered with corrugated plastic. The west elevation of the crosswing is largely concealed by an outbuilding. The C20 addition has aluminium-framed windows.

Interior: A number of interesting original features survive. Dog-leg stair with turned balusters, the landing balustrade panelled and crowned with a narrow frieze of splat balusters. The crosswing has an elaborate Arts and Crafts inglenook fireplace, the recess defined by a moulded Tudor arch springing from brattished corbels. The chimney-piece is stone with a moulded Tudor arch and a tiled surround of probably William de Morgan tiles. The remainder of the room was originally open to the roof timbers, 2 fine arch braced trusses with queen posts survive in the roofspace. The first floor in the main range preserves most of its Arts and Crafts wall panelling, although some of this has been re-sited when the first floor was sub-divided. The room originally had a canted ceiling with a moulded cornice, the ceiling covered with embossed paper. This survives in the roofspace.

Theresa Sassoon was the sister of Sir Hamo Thornycroft, the sculptor. He executed the sculpture on the Institute of Chartered Accountants, designed by John Belcher, and it was presumably this personal connection that led to Belcher designing the studio.

Group value with Weirleigh, the family home of Siegfried Sassoon, Theresa Sassoon's son.

Listing NGR: TQ6637442729

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

431790

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.