Summary
South Lodge constitutes pair of joined Italianate villas constructed in 1864 to the designs of William Oldham Chambers, later used as a school and ultimately converted into residential flats.
Reasons for Designation
South Lodge, constructed in 1864 to the designs of William Oldham Chambers, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its Italianate architectural character and detail;
* as a complete work of the architect William Oldham Chambers.
Historic interest:
* for its survival as part of the original vision for the resort seafront in Lowestoft.
Group value:
* for its proximity to and strong visual relationship with the neighbouring Grade II-listed Ashurst, also designed by Chambers, and with Kirkley Cliff Terrace.
History
The medieval town of Lowestoft underwent a dramatic expansion over the course of the C19. In the first half of the century, a harbour had been created alongside a man-made waterway connecting it to Lake Lothing. Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889) recognised the town's potential development for industrial and leisure purposes and as a port for Norwich. Peto employed the architect John Louth Clemence (1822-1911) to assist him in developing a master plan for a resort focused along Lowestoft's South Beach. Peto was a highly successful contractor for railways and public works, remembered particularly as a railway pioneer and identified by Brunel as the largest contractor in the world. By the mid-1860s Peto was entangled in the collapse of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway company which resulted in his bankruptcy. Despite Peto's departure, South Lowestoft flourished and continued to develop as a resort.
South Lodge was designed in 1864 by the local architect William Oldham Chambers FRIBA (1838-1909). Its neighbour to the north, Ashurst, was also designed by Chambers and built at the same time. South Lodge's position was already set out in Peto and Clemence's original masterplan for the resort at South Lowestoft. Chamber’s later 1878 Plan of Lowestoft and Kirkley and the 1885 Ordnance Survey Map show the development of the surrounding terraces and villas over the course of the C19.
Though originally designed as a pair of villas, by the 1881 census the building was being used as a school. There were 25 boarding pupils present at that time, under the tutelage of mistresses Ellen and Margaret Ringer. It later became part of South Lodge School where Benjamin Britten was a pupil between 1921 to 1928. He became head boy and captain of the cricket team. The headmaster then was T J E Sewell. (Information provided by the Suffolk Preservation Society). In 1990 the building was converted into residential flats.
W O Chambers had been articled to James Oldham of Hull. He worked in London before setting up his own practice in Lowestoft in 1862 alongside William James Roberts. Chambers and Roberts' work included modifications to Lowestoft's Grade II listed Town Hall and numerous other designs in the town.
Details
South Lodge constitutes pair of joined Italianate villas constructed in 1864 to the designs of William Oldham Chambers, later used as a school and ultimately converted into residential flats.
MATERIALS: The building is constructed of red and gault bricks and is covered in hipped slate roofs.
PLAN: The original plan dividing the building into two houses with side entrance bays has been altered to provide several residential flats.
EXTERIOR: The square main block is three storeys high over a basement, and three bays wide along the east (seafront) elevation. The exterior is characterised by red brick walls with gault brick dressings, and Italianate details such as rusticated brick quoins, keystones above windows, moulded architraves to most windows, a modillion eaves cornice and cornices between each storey. Set back from the main elevation there are additional full-height entrance bays on each side, that to the north take the form of a four-storey tower with a swept pyramidal roof terminating in iron cresting.
The east elevation has a pair of two-storey canted bay windows that rise from the basement. They have casement windows at ground floor but otherwise, all of the fenestration employs sash windows with wooden frames (those at second-floor level are 1990 replacements).
There are wall stacks to the north and south, and one to the rear, dressed with gault brick and rising above blind architraves that continue the rhythm of fenestration at each storey below.
The south porch is entered through a 1990 double-glazed door under a rounded arch. There are paired rounded windows on each floor above. The north porch is externally of four stages, at the ground floor of which is a six-panel fielded doorway (only the two lower panels remain in place) within a round-headed archway surmounted by a key stone carved with a male head. There are paired round-headed windows to each floor above, blind to the upper two stages on the east side.
INTERIOR: The north porch leads to a stair hall containing a stick baluster staircase with a ramped and wreathed handrail.
