Underley Hall School

Details

UNDERLEY PARK 1. 5166 Underley Hall School. (Formerly listed as Underley Hall) SD 68 SW 2/142 5.3.82 II* GV

2. 1825-8 and 1872. By George Webster, altered and enlarged by Paley and Austin. Jacobean. Two storeys with towers. Ashlar, with slate roofs and lead cupolas. Older part was planned as a quadrangle with symmetrically composed facades to south and east. The south (former entrance) facade is of seven bays with canted bays to first and last through both storeys. Plinth, two strings and openwork parapet closed by square turrets at either end with ogee cupolas. Mullioned and transomed windows of two lights except to the canted bays which have five. Two storey porch of coupled columns, Doric below and Ionic above. "1825" in cartouche over door. The east facade is of five bays. End bays, turrets and decorative features as above. Across the central bays is a one-storey Roman Doric tetrastyle porch with elaborate strap- work cresting. On the west side is the service wing with gabled dormers and no parapet, and the present entrance under a three storey tower probably of the later build. The newer part of the house lies to the north and comprises additional rooms and extensive stable and offices. The detail of the original block is continued except for a four-storey tower with clasping, turrets and an openwork parapet of Gothic arches. At its base is a square bay window of six lights on ground and first floors framed by Doric and Ionic pilasters respectively. The stable court has decorated cast iron and glass canopy. The chapel was added in 1965 to the east by Building Design Partnership, connected by a corridor to second build. The chapel is not of special interest. Interior. Mostly by Paley and Austin. In vestibule plaque with "A.C.N. 1825". Dining room has ceiling of moulded ribs in Tudor style and panelling with Ionic pilasters. Fireplace in keeping. Similar panelling to former entrance hall, and drawing room which also has fireplace of white marble by Webster with coupled Ionic pilasters. The library in the later wing is Palladian with applied Ionic pilasters. The staircase, by Webster, is entirely cased in panelling of cruciform design and has a ceiling pattern of ribs and pendants enclosing Tudor motifs. Wide dogleg stair in two flights. Terrace to south of house with retaining walls in keeping, and similar gatepiers a little to the west on drive to Kearstwick. On terrace to east of house (floor of former conservatory) large square stone vessel with Italian Romanesque decoration resting on four lions, probably C19. Built for Alexander Nowell MP, and extended for the Earl of Bective. One of the first great houses of the Jacobean revival, recognised as such by Henry Shaw. (Details of Elizabethan Architecture, 1839) and the first house of this size to be built in Westmorland since Levens. The work of both periods was executed to a high standard, with surprising scholarship in Webster's case. The house formed the subject of the only drawings he ever sent to the Royal Academy exhibition and it is one of his major surviving works.

Listing NGR: SD6150480135

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

75267

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Details of Elizabethan Architecture, (1839)

End of official list entry

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