Gerston Hall

Details

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957/0/10043

STORRINGTON
GREYFRIARS LANE
Gerston Hall

(Formerly listed as St Joseph's Hall)

GV
II

Originally house, later occupied by a religious order and more recently as a bishop's house. Foundation stone laid in 1910 and house built for a Mr George Trotter. Architect not at present known but in the style of E S Prior. Vernacular Revival style house. Built of unknapped flint with knapped flint plinth, chalk dressings and reused Horsham stone slab roofs with flint chimneystacks. Modified butterfly plan with garden front facing south and north entrance front E-plan with projecting service wing and courtyard to the north east. Two storeys and attics with original mullioned or mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights and original catches.

EXTERIOR: North or entrance front is of five bays which include central and right side gable and further projecting service wing to left. Large gable to right with bands of chalk and four-centred arched main entrance with linenfold panelled doors. Adjoining bay has a hipped dormer and an eight-light window to the first floor, pierced by two hipped dormers and a nine-light mullioned window to the ground floor. The central gable has a tall three tier three-light staircase window. The penultimate window bay is identical to the window on the other side of this gable. The service wing has three windows to the return and the front hipped roof, which has a paired dormer with five-lights, is supported on four Tuscan columns of flint, banded with chalk. Central service doorcase with plank door with ornamental ironwork.

West elevation has a half-hipped roof with two dormers at separate levels and casement windows, but the gable is interrupted by a further gable set at an angle with a large external flint chimneystack.

The south or garden front is curved and symmetrical of five bays with the service wing extending outwards to the east. The centre of the main house has a hipped dormer and below a two storey large square bay, with an eight-light mullioned and transomed casement to the first floor and nine-light to the ground floor. There is an attached curved wooden balcony with balusters edged with shingles with half-glazed doorcases to ground and first floors. These terminate on each side with a large external flint chimneystack. The ends of the curve have hipped dormers and mullioned and transomed casement windows to the ground floor. Angled gables have five-light windows to the first floor and six-light windows to the ground floor. Attached flint terrace walls. The service wing has a hipped dormer, first floor eight-light window pierced by two hipped dormers, a two and a three-light window to the ground floor and a round-headed entrance with casement window and door set at an angle and servants bell.

East elevation has a large half-hipped gable to the south and a series of hipped dormers at two levels. Attached to this side is a tall unknapped flint courtyard wall with Horsham stone slab triangular coping and square corner piers with flint acorn finials.

INTERIOR: The entrance vestibule has chalk walls and flint octagonal roof decoration and a wide fireplace with flat band and keystone. A chalk corridor with three round-headed arches leads to the staircase and a hall to the south. This has a ceiling with plasterwork and floral and grape motifs around the edges, a cambered fireplace with stone arched surround with keystone and herringbone brickwork and built-in oak cupboards and radiators with iron hinges. The Dining Room has a fireplace with very wide wooden bressumer from the demolished "Bear" inn in Horsham and seats, wide floor boards and two large paired doors. The Library has a chalk four-centred arched fireplace with acorn-shaped stops, some narrow bricks and some decorative tiles. A further room has a large brick fireplace with diamond-shaped keystone.

The service wing retains the service staircase with wooden splat balusters and square newel posts, sitting room with original brick fireplace, kitchen retaining wide fireplace and cupboards, laundry with stone sinks, dairy with slate shelves and larder with brick shelves and game hooks.

The staircase has two round-headed arches to a gallery, corridors with round-headed arches with original built-in cupboards and linen cupboards. Some fireplaces and all the original doors survive. The attics have angled queen struts and collar beams but the rafters have been renewed. The iron wheel of a lift mechanism remains.

HISTORY: George Trotter sold the house in 1919 to a Mr Philip Henderson. Later the house was bought by the Norbertines, a Pre-Monstratensian order. In 1956 the house became a hostel for Hungarian refugees. From 1965 it was the house of the Roman Catholic bishop of Arundel and Brighton.

An intact and fine quality Vernacular Revival house of c1910 built of local materials, some reused.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

492125

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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