Summary
Entrance lodge to Stoke Hall, very likely built in 1852-1853 to the designs of Anthony Salvin.
Reasons for Designation
The Lodge, very likely built in 1852-1853 to the designs of Anthony Salvin, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* it is a distinctive and well-preserved example of an early Victorian entrance lodge in the Tudor style, demonstrating the hand of an accomplished architect in its considered use of materials and finely detailed embellishments;
* it can almost certainly be attributed to Anthony Salvin, a prominent and sought-after architect specialising in the Tudor idiom, whose prolific entries on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) attest to the high regard in which his oeuvre is held;
* its asymmetrical elevations incorporate features typically associated with the Tudor period, from the steeply pitched gabled bays and ornate chimney stacks, to the close studding and mullion and transom windows, altogether creating a harmonious composition of significant aesthetic quality.
Historic interest:
* it would have formed the entrance to the now demolished Stoke Hall, also designed by Salvin in the Jacobean style, demonstrating the status of the owners and tantalising visitors with architectural expectations;
* it remains one of the few surviving buildings associated with the estate, a visually arresting reminder of the formerly elaborate Hall.
History
The Lodge was built as an entrance lodge to Stoke Hall, probably around 1852-1853 when the Hall, stables and outbuildings were built for Henry Birkbeck by Anthony Salvin (1799-1881). Birkbeck returned to this architect in 1860 to design a new farmhouse for Abbot's Farm on the estate, so it is highly likely that Salvin had also designed the lodge. The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1882 shows the building in a wooded area off the main road, marking the entrance to the long sinuous drive to Stoke Hall. In 1931 it was sold, along with the rest of the estate. It was described in the sales catalogue as having herringbone brickwork and half timbering, oak mullioned windows and a porch entrance; and it contained three bedrooms, a box room, sitting room, kitchen and pantry. At the time, it was occupied by Dennis Herrieven, the head gardener, and his family, on a service tenancy. Map evidence shows that between 1928 and 1971, an extension was built on the north side of the lodge. It is now one of the few surviving buildings on the estate, as Stoke Hall was demolished around 1936, leaving only a quadrangular stable block and tower, isolated on rising ground.
Anthony Salvin was a prominent Victorian architect, receiving many commissions for the restoration of castles and churches, and for the design of major country houses in the medieval and Tudor style. He was a pupil of the Edinburgh architect John Paterson, who repaired and remodelled Brancepeth Castle from 1818, and he later worked for John Nash. His architectural career progressed rapidly as he began exhibiting at the RA in 1823, and was admitted FSA in March 1824. Two years later, Salvin obtained his first major commission, Mamhead in Devon, which established him as the chief architect of his time for large country houses in the Tudor style, and led to his commission for alterations in the Outer Ward of Windsor Castle in 1857-1866. He also had an extensive university practice in Durham and Cambridge, and to a much lesser degree Oxford. In 1862 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, mainly for his restoration work and new buildings at the Tower of London. As his entry by Richard Holder in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography makes clear, Salvin was widely regarded as an expert on medieval buildings, and by the end of his career he was held in high regard. On the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) there are almost 200 buildings associated with Salvin, many at high grade, including his picturesque Grade I listed Scotney Castle.
Details
Entrance lodge to Stoke Hall, very likely built in 1852-1853 to the designs of Anthony Salvin.
MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond, and applied timber framing to the upper floor with infill panels of herringbone brickwork. The dressings are of rubbed brick and the roof covering of plain clay tiles.
PLAN: the lodge is located on the eastern side of the main road into Norwich. The original plan is approximately T-shaped, consisting of two ranges aligned east-west and north-south, with a projecting gabled entrance bay on the south elevation. In the north-west angle is the two-storey extension, added between 1928 and 1971, in a similar style. An attached low red brick wall with half round brick coping encloses in a quarter circle the front garden to the south-east.
EXTERIOR: the two-storey Lodge is in a picturesque Tudor style with irregular elevations and close studding on the first floor. The steeply pitched roofs have capped angle ridge tiles and wide, plain wooden bargeboards. Two chimneystacks with oversailing, staggered brick courses rise from the slope and the east gable end of the east-west range. The fenestration consists of moulded timber mullioned and transomed windows: those on the ground floor are under shallow segmental arches of gauged brick, whilst the first-floor oriel windows are supported by substantial carved brackets.
The entrance on the south elevation is within an elaborate two-storey gabled bay which has a half-hipped roof and a jettied first floor with drop finials in a faceted acorn design. The first floor is lit by a six-light oriel window, and is supported by low brick walls and a row of elaborate timber posts in the Jacobean style, carved in the shape of inverted and truncated pyramids, with the upper sections linked to form an arcade. The porch floor is laid in black and red chequerboard tiles, and the front door is made of vertical panels with fillets, under a shallow segmental arch of gauged brick. To the left, the ground floor is lit by an eight-light window, and to the right is the gable end of the north-south range. This has a jettied first floor which is lit by an eight-light oriel window.
On the west elevation, the right-hand bay is the gable end of the east-west range which also has a jettied first floor lit by an eight-light oriel window, and the same drop finials already described. The ground floor is dominated by a large, fifteen-light canted bay window. The left bay belongs to the later two-storey extension, built in a similar style. It has an eight-light ground-floor window, whilst the first floor is pierced by a large four-light square oriel window positioned across the eaves. The left return of the extension, which forms the north elevation, has close studding on the first floor, infilled with rendered panels. Both floors are lit by eight-light windows, and there is a wooden hatch with strap hinges in the gable head.
INTERIOR: the interior retains a number of original features, including door and window furniture, and the ceiling joists and floorboards in at least two of the ground- floor rooms. The principal reception room to the left of the entrance, lit by the large fifteen-light window, has a stone Tudor arch fireplace with a tiled hearth, brick inset, and a hood made of tiles laid on edge. At least one of the bedrooms retains a decorative iron grate.
