Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 29/04/2019
TR 13 NW and SW
3 and 6/8
LYMPNE
ALDINGTON ROAD (South side)
Port Lympne, house, stable block, forecourt walls to east, and loggia, patio, terrace and shell fountain to south.
29.12.66
GV
II*
House, stable block and formal garden. House built by about 1912 by Sir Herbert Baker in a Cape Dutch style, for Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, a British politician, art collector and connoisseur of the decorative arts. Sassoon belonged to the internationally famous Baghdadi Jewish business dynasty, known to contemporaries as ‘the Rothschilds of the East’. His contemporaries regularly described him as ‘oriental’ – a stereotype he embraced in this deliberately exotic mansion. Additions, including doors, east forecourt, and probably south loggias, terrace and shell fountain, by Philip Tilden during early 1920s. Interior frieze by Glyn Philpot before c.1920. Further decoration by Tilden. Tent room by Rex Whistler 1933-34. Restored from 1973 by J. Aspinall.
Buildings and loggias red brick with plain tile roofs. Terrace and fountain ashlared stone. H-plan house, with double-pile central range lying east-west. Entrance front to east with single-storey loggia running east from each end before curving away from forecourt; solid walls to, and colonnades away from forecourt. Forecourt walls continue east from curve in loggias. North loggia connects with stable block to north side of forecourt. South loggia also frames east side of south terrace. Further matching, loggia curving to enclose west side of south terrace. Land drops to south of terrace, permitting loggia basements which are linked by retaining wall of terrace, with shell fountain below.
East elevation (entrance front): two storeys on flush stone plinth. Rusticated quoins suggested by recessed brick bands. Shaped brick-coped gable ends to north and south. Narrow central bay breaks forwards slightly, rising above eaves to form gable with small central rubbed brick niche, flanking inverted brick scrolls and triangular pediment. Two slightly projecting brick stacks, each evenly spaced between central bay and gable ends, with stone shoulders panelled flues and moulded cornices. Shallow round-headed recess to base of each stack. Regular three window front of one four-light wooden casement between each stack and central bay, and one wooden cross-window with moulded brick floating cornice to central bay. Six wooden cross-windows to ground floor ; two below each first floor casement and one within panel to base of each stack. Central rectangular doorway with bolection-moulded stone architrave, surmounted by stone trophy by Tilden. Studded bronze double doors by Tilden. Doorways and windows to loggia walls.
Forecourt walls: brick-coped, with 14 stone terms, brought from Stowe, at intervals against brick pilasters. Stable block: principal section two storeys with hipped roof, central cupola with bell and clock, and three hipped eaves dormers. South elevation: shaped gables to south ends of north-south wings, with intertwined initials PS towards top of each. Brick ridge stack to each end of central section. Regular five window front of one cross-window to each gable end with moulded triangular brick pediment, and two four-light and central two-light wooden casements to central section. Moulded brick floating cornices to ground floor windows. Central rectangular bolection-moulded stone doorway with festooned swan-neck stone pediment. Glass double doors with filigree iron-work designed by Tilden, and older lunette. Patio of patterned tiles between wings in front of central section, with three oval steps down to terrace.Terrace: south wall capped with open-work stone frieze of variously combined initials PS. Flights of stone steps lead down to flank oval fountain pool running back into shell-shaped ashlared recess under terrace. Concave flight of stone steps descends from pool to lawn. West elevation: similar to east elevation but without central gable and break, and with three bay loggia.
Interior: only partly inspected. Patterned black-and-white marble floor to passage between east and west doors on ground floor. Staircase flanked by blue marble columns to ground floor and pink marble columns to first floor. Iron balustrade to stairs copied from Caroline Park, Scotland. Moorish patio by Tilden leading off staircase to north.Egyptian frieze by Philpot to south west room of west wing, formerly in south west room of central section. Tent room by Whistler to northeast side of passage, said to be one of the finest examples of his work. Octagonal library behind north-east loggia. Grounds and fittings inspired by Roman associations of site. Venue for Peace Conferences 1920-21. See also items 3 & 6/9 , 6/10 , 3/6 and 7.
(P. Tilden, True Remembrances: The Memoirs of an Architect, 1954. Country Life Vol. LIII. 1923; LXXI, 1932; LXXII,1932; LXXIII, 1933; LXXIX,1936 and XCVI, 1944.)
Listing NGR: TR1061035269
