Amwell House, Hertford Regional College

Details

WARE TOWN

TL3513NE HERTFORD ROAD 829-1/13/79 (South side) 08/05/50 Amwell House, Hertford Regional College, Ware Centre (Formerly Listed as: HERTFORD ROAD Amwell House)

GV II*

Formerly known as: Ware Grammar School for Girls LONDON ROAD. House, now part of Hertford Regional College. Early C18, extended c1740, late C18, remodelled late C19, altered 1973 when wings truncated by 15 feet for road widening. Red and plum coloured brick with cherry red dressings, Flemish Bond. Welsh slate gabled roof, hipped Welsh slate roofs, with red half-round ridge tiles over hips, and on ridges, over wings. Moulded brick cornice above windows, moulded brick and wood eaves cornice, stone parapet dressings to gable ends, low brick chimneystacks at ends. Central entry, single pile plan, with twin projecting wings, giving H-form with forecourt. North elevation faces road. EXTERIOR: centre 3 storeys above basement, with attics, 5-bay width, 2-storey projecting wings. First floor and second floor have 5 nearly flush-set sash windows. Brickwork to second floor noticeably darker, indicating raising of building to 3 storeys in late C18. Ground floor has 4 nearly flush-set sash windows with glazing bars, exposed boxes and moulded architraves, under red rubbed flat arches. Moulded plat band at first floor level. Central projecting closed porch, formed by moving original doorcase outwards late C19, has entablature with pulvinated frieze, dentil and modillion cornice, modillion pediment, attached Roman Ionic columns flanking, arch with moulded imposts and archivolt, containing 8 fielded panelled door and fanlight with scrollwork single recessed sash window, ground and first with Tuscan columns ground floor, and Tuscan pilasters first floor. Stone bands at cill levels, and modillion cornice above first floor windows, projecting sprocketed eaves. South elevation to garden has 5 bay 3-storey centre, with attics, above basement. Small central attic dormer above early C20 fire escape. 3 nearly flush-set sash windows ground and first floor, 1 to right and 2 to left of centre. 2 nearly flush-set sash windows, with left hand blocked window to second floor. Plat bands at first and second-floor levels. Central wood doorcase with Tuscan pillars, in front of Tuscan pilaster responds, carrying entablatures with stepped fascia plain frieze, and moulding below cornice, with open moulded pediment. Recessed half-glazed door with pilaster surround, blank fanlight and semicircular moulded archivolt with keystone. 2 storey links to slightly projecting 2 storey wings. Right hand wing has first-floor C18 flush-set sash window, with glazing bars, in architrave surround, with pediment above, ground floor large C19 canted brick bay window, with moulded modillion cornice and C20 balcony railing above. 3 pairs of plain glazed mullion and transom French windows. Left hand wing first floor has pedimented sash window as for right hand wing, and ground floor mid C19 canted wood bay window above brick spandrel. Sash windows with glazing bars with architrave surrounds, moulded cornice with modillions, and lead roof, with wood roll hips. INTERIOR: ground floor hall has plain C18 panelling, with moulded dado rail and moulded archivolts, opening out into former dining room to form larger entrance hall. C19 wood and marble fire surround, with egg and dart moulded architrave, and dentil cornice. Former parlour to right hand of entrance has moulded cornice and C19 marble fire surround with Ionic columns. Former sitting room in west wing has C18 panelling, moulded dado and C19 moulded cornice. Late C19 fireplace with wood consoles, egg and dart moulding, dentil cornice, and overmantel with recessed panel, Tuscan pilasters, carrying entablatures, with projecting central tablet, with pediment above. Doorcases with moulded architraves and with 6 panelled doors with fielded and raised panels. Late C19 pediments added above. Former library, south room of west wing truncated 1973, but retains elaborate C19 plaster modillion cornice, C19 moulded and patterned wood dado, and panelled shutters and panelled archivolt to relocated C18 Venetian window. East wing contains former servants hall and office. Fine C18 china cabinet, built against north wall, has semicircular top, and twin glazed doors with glazing bars forming octagonal subdivisions, with pointed heads. Main staircase relocated from central hall to west wing late C18, and rebuilt late C19, rising in dog-leg plan to first floor. Close string pattern, with Tuscan column newels and balusters of iron-twist columns above vases. Ramped moulded hardwood handrails. The stair follows the style of the C18 original, which rises centrally from the first floor (vide infra). On the half-landing is the 'Gilpin Window', late C19, in the style of Morris and Co. painted and stained glass, with quarries of floral motifs, and circular flower heads, joined by lead cames. 2 painted panels, based on the illustrations by Randolph Caldecott to Cowper's poem. First floor central range has central mid C18 staircase rising in dog-leg plan to second floor and attics. Close string pattern with custom column newels, balusters of iron-twist columns above squat vases, moulded strings and caps, moulded ramped handrail, panelled dado, with moulded ramped rail, as far as half landing only. Principal first floor rooms retain moulded cornices, part panelling and C18 fire surrounds of various patterns with moulded architraves and shelves supported on moulded cornices with dentils. Half-landing to attics has servants' wc with pan of `long hopper' type, c1870. Original 2 attics subdivided into 4. HISTORICAL NOTE: Amwell House identified with residence of John Scott (1730-83), the Quaker poet, from c1750 to his death. His father, Samuel Scott, moved to Amwell in 1740, and may have built the west wing. Scott's garden, and grotto (qv) attracted many eminent visitors. He reputedly paid for improving the Amwell to Hertford Road which passes the house, and later came under the Cheshunt Turnpike Trust. After Scott's death, his daughter remained in the house until 1863. Acquired by the Tite family, the interior was embellished late C19. In 1906 the house became the Ware Girl's Grammar School, in 1964 the Ware College of Further Education, now the Hertford Regional College. Externally the setting of the building has changed radically during the C20, with the stables and outbuildings to the west demolished during the 1960s with the conversion of the building to a College of Further Education, which entailed extensive construction in the gardens. A short length of attached garden wall beyond the dining-room in the south-east corner, is in Hitch patent brickwork. The north elevation of Amwell House forms a focal point along Amwell End. (Edwards E and Perman D: Ware's Past In Pictures: Ware: 1991-: 104-5, 128-30; Heath C: The Book of Ware. A Portrait of the Town: Chesham: 1977-: 104-106, 108-110,123; Hunt EM: The History of Ware: Hertford: 1986-1946: 38; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N (rev. Cherry B): Hertfordshire: Harmondsworth: 1977-: 381; Smith JT: Hertfordshire Houses. Selective Inventory: London: 1993-: 193-4; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of special arch or historic interest: 1993-: 25-26; Ware 25" to 1 Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; Dodd WA: Plans of Amwell House Showing Construction Phases: 1986-).

Listing NGR: TL3587613962

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

412316

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Edwards, , Perman, , Wares Past in Pictures, (1991), 128-30
Edwards, , Perman, , Wares Past in Pictures, (1991), 104-5
Hunt, E M, The History of Ware 1986-1946, (1986), 38
Heath, C, The Book of Ware A Portrait of the Town, (1977), 104-106
Heath, C, The Book of Ware A Portrait of the Town, (1977), 123
Heath, C, The Book of Ware A Portrait of the Town, (1977), 108-110
Smith, J T, Hertfordshire Houses Selective Inventory, (1993), 193-4
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 381

End of official list entry

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