Summary
House, C18, with some evidence of earlier fabric, and with early-C19 alterations, substantially remodelled and extended to the designs of HJ Austin for himself in 1905-1906.
Reasons for Designation
Kings Worthy House, a C18 house, with some evidence of earlier fabric, and with early-C19 alterations, substantially remodelled and extended to the designs of HJ Austin, for himself, in 1905-1906, is listed for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a mid-C18 house, retaining its striking principal frontage with bold modillion cornice, and with early-C19 full-height bow windows and porch;
* Austin’s early-C20 work celebrates the Georgian origins of the building, and reimagines it combining Domestic Revival with neo-Georgian influences to create a richly textured composition of distinction;
* the interior retains noteworthy features including a suite of chimneypieces fitted with Delft tiles, a distinctive screened stair, and re-used C18 panelling.
Historic interest:
* the remodelling by the leading architect Hubert Austin for himself and his family enhances the building’s interest.
Group value:
* the survival of the boundary wall along Church Lane contributes to the interest of the site, marking the eastern extent of the villa’s historic landscape.
History
The house now known as Kings Worthy House stands to the north-east of the C13 church of St Mary. The presence of what appears to be a C17 beam within the north-west range of the house suggests that there has been a building on this site since that time; this theory may be supported some stone walling in the cellar to the south-east. The main part of the existing house dates from the C18: the flush-set windows and timber modillion cornice suggest a mid-C18 date, with the bow windows, porch and doorcase thought to have been added in the early C19. The Tithe map of 1838 shows a rectangular building with a short north-west wing. At that time the property was described as a house with garden, rookery, stabling, plantations and yard; the yard was to the north-west and a kitchen garden to the north, with gardens to the south, a plantation to the south-west, and a number of subsidiary buildings to the north and north-west. A large meadow to the west was described as ‘Rookery Meadow’. During the 1890s a small projection was built extending the north-west wing.
In 1901 the house was purchased for his own use by the architect Hubert James Austin (1841-1915), of the prominent Lancaster-based architectural practice at that time known as Austin and Paley (the name of the practice evolved over its 100-year history, reflecting its composition). Austin had built a house named The Knoll (NHLE 1214751) for himself and his wife Fanny in Lancaster, following their marriage in 1870, and in 1899 had bought a large country property, Heversham House, to the north of Lancaster; why this third house, so far from the centre of the firm’s operations, was necessary or practical, has been questioned (Brandwood, p 89). However, it is clear that Kings Worthy Court, as Austin renamed the house, was intended as a family home: a window in the morning room is painted with his and Fanny’s initials. Austin drew up plans for the alteration and extension of the house in both 1903 and 1905; the plans of 1903 show far-reaching changes which would have given the house overall a more vernacular character now seen only in the rear wings, but the revised 1905 plans appear to show the work as completed. Austin undertook extensive internal remodelling within the existing building footprint, as well as making small additions to the west and north. He also remodelled and extended to the north-west, to create service areas linked by a yard with the existing carriage house and stables; this latter part of the early-C20 development has since been removed, together with the earlier service buildings. A small building immediately to the north-east of the house was demolished as part of Austin’s scheme. Austin and his wife both died in 1915 and the house was sold in that year.
The house is understood to have been requisitioned by the fire brigade during the Second World War. At some time between 1964 and 1971, the former meadow to the west was developed, with the construction of Court Road serving a number of houses. In 1972 the remaining site to the east was purchased by Conder Group, a company which had begun in a forge in Kings Worthy in 1947, growing to become a major national manufacturer of industrial steel-framed buildings, with a factory and headquarters remaining in Kings Worthy. The former service wing attached to the north-west of the house, and earlier service buildings to the north-west, were demolished in 1972 to make way for a large office building immediately to the west of the house, intended as a showpiece for their ‘Kingsworthy’ building system, and completed in 1973; the architect was Peter Cuthbert of Sidney Kaye, Firmin and Partners. Conder remained at the site until 1992. The site has continued in office use until recently, latterly in police use, but is now unoccupied.
Details
House, C18, with some evidence of earlier fabric, and with early-C19 alterations, substantially remodelled and extended to the designs of HJ Austin for himself in 1905-1906. The building has received further alterations since that time, with subsidiary portions of the house and linked service buildings having been demolished.
MATERIALS: red brick with roughcast in some areas and some tile-hanging. The house has clay-tiled pitched roofs, and tall brick stacks enriched with banding. The window openings mainly hold early-C20 horned sash frames, or leaded casements of the same date, with wrought-iron fittings. The original rainwater goods, with striated rainwater heads, survive, now painted.
PLAN: the C18 house consists of a main rectangular range set on a west/east axis, with the principal entrance to the south, and with three parallel ranges extending to the north; these ranges have been subject to extensive early-C20 rebuilding, with some small extensions. The western range appears to have C17 origins.
EXTERIOR: the principal, south elevation, consists of three central bays arranged over two main storeys with attic, the ground-floor windows to either side of the entrance having been converted to paired sash windows, each with a central mullion. These are flanked by broad, double-height bows, thought to be an addition of the early C19 each with four windows to the ground floor and three windows to the first floor, the bricks set in header bond on the bows. A deep modillion cornice extends unbroken around the bows at eaves level. The central entrance is protected by a timber Tuscan porch with a fluted frieze. The six-panelled door is set within a panelled recess, beneath a fanlight with teardrop glazing. The window openings have flat arches; the horned sash frames are set almost flush with the wall. In the roof above are three dormer windows, the central one pedimented; the frames are leaded casements with some replacement in plate glass.
The west elevation, which shows evidence of substantial rebuilding, has a Domestic Revival character, with the modillion cornice carried across the elevation. On the main range is a single-storey extension bay in 'Queen Anne' style: lit on three sides, its leaded roof has a central barrelled section terminating in a round-headed pediment. Between the pediment and the large tripartite window below is a pulvinated frieze. The junction between this main range and the north-west range is marked by a projecting stack. The north-west range has multi-pane leaded casement windows, the openings having segmental arches to the ground floor. At the north end is a doorway in a C18-style doorcase, thought to be Edwardian, with fluted pilasters, scrolled brackets and a shallow hood, possibly resited following the demolition of the north-west service range. Above the cornice, the attic storey is roughcast with applied timber studs. Two gabled windows in the roof slope above have tile-hung gables; the gable end of the main, southern range is also roughcast.
The north elevation has a somewhat uneven appearance, resulting from the removal of the remodelled 1890s north-western projection; the area of the building from which this extension was removed is now blind, apart from a panelled door, again possibly resited, filling what was once an internal opening. This part of the building is roughcast, contrasting with the area of brick treatment which turns the corner from the west elevation, to face the enclosed yard which formerly occupied the space to the west of the extension. In the gable are set irregular attic windows. The ends of the central and north-east ranges conform to Austin’s design, with tiled gables, and a combination of brickwork and roughcast. The set-back central range has a canted bay lighting the stair at first-floor level, set off-centre and sandwiched between a projecting ground-floor section containing the rear entrance, and a jettied attic floor. To the east is a tile-hung double-height bow with a modillion cornice and mullioned windows, the upper window with a pulvinated frieze.
The east elevation faces the road, in line with the property’s boundary wall. There is a projecting stack to the centre of the main range, with irregularly placed windows to the north; the elevation is rendered above ground-floor level.
INTERIOR: the interior of the older building was very extensively remodelled by Austin in 1905-1906. Room names referred to are taken from his plans of 1905. The house retains extensive joinery and detailing of this period, including cornices, skirting boards and dado rails, panelled doors and door surrounds (those to the principal ground-floor rooms having lugged architraves); some earlier features also survive. The majority of the rooms have chimneypieces – mainly Edwardian neo-Georgian – enriched with C17 or C18 Delft tiles, arranged into groups by subject and design. A number of iron firebacks have recently been removed but remain by the fireplace to which they belong; these look C17 but may have been produced in the mid-C20 by the Kings Worthy Foundry, which specialised in reproduction firebacks.
The main range now consists of three rooms: the central Hall, the Drawing Room to the west, and the Dining Room to the east. The central entrance opens directly to the generous Hall, to the rear of which a passageway is formed by a timber screen with Georgian detailing – keyed semi-circular-archways flanked by fluted pilasters – and balustraded openings of an Edwardian character. The screen both shields and displays the wide open-well stair beyond, defined to the east by an arcade which also spans the passageway. The stair has a closed pulvinated string and a toadsback handrail. The balustrade is Jacobean in style with vase-shaped splat balusters, and the newel posts are fluted, with ball finials; there is a stepped newel at the half-pace landing. The leaded canted bay window has oval panels painted with flower motifs. Within the Hall, the original ceiling survives with moulded plasterwork to the transverse beams. The Edwardian windows flanking the door have window seats. The chimneypiece in this room appears to be a composition, including a C18 wreathed laurel frieze. In the Drawing Room, with its broad alcove provided by the western extension, early-C19 panelling survives to the bow windows. The room has a modillion cornice and a large Edwardian chimneypiece with lugged architrave; there is also a buffet alcove. The entrance to the Dining Room from the passageway is set diagonally; a cupboard to the north-west corner provides symmetry, both openings having arched surrounds. This room has a mid-C18 character, fully lined with raised and fielded panelling which may be original to the house; over the fireplace are set egg and dart panels, thought likely to be re-used examples brought from elsewhere. The chimneypiece is Edwardian, in early-C18 style, also with egg and dart mouldings. The ceiling is compartmented. The mullioned window to the north-east has oval leaded panes painted with traditional English motifs: oak, rose and pinks. In the north-east corner of the building is the Breakfast Room, with an Edwardian bow window. The mullioned window to the east has oval panes painted with the initials ‘HJA’ and ‘FA’, and the date ‘Ao Dm 1906’; the opening is now fitted with textured glass internally, the inscriptions clearly legible only from outside. The fittings in this room are relatively simple, including a bolection-moulded firesurround filled with plain brick.
The ground-floor service area to the north-west has seen considerable alteration, in addition to the loss of those areas converted and added by Austin further to the north-west, which included the Scullery, Servants’ Hall and House Yard. The circulation route around the stair survives, though the original entranceway to the Kitchen to the west has now been lost. The large Kitchen has been subdivided; within this area is a chamfered beam with scroll stops to the west; one stop is just visible to the east where the end of the beam is enclosed by a later wall. The former Butler’s Pantry to the east has been converted to WC use; the former Pantry retains its form but without historic features. There has been some reconfiguration in the area of the service stair to the north-east, which has undergone considerable change. The dog-leg stair originally had a moulded closed string, and a modest balustrade with stepped newels; the balustrade has been partially replaced with an alternative model, the surviving balusters have been enclosed, and the feature is now partially painted.
On the first floor, the generous landing is defined by a modillion and rosette cornice. The circulation between the rooms on this floor is idiosyncratic, with some entrances set diagonally around the landing, and multiple access to some rooms; the large south-east bedroom has a dressing room with which it shares a small lobby. There is a corridor to the west; what appears to have been a window opening overlooking the stair has been blocked. The Edwardian bathroom area in the demolished north-western projection has been lost; there is a WC in the north-west corner of the existing building. The large bedrooms retain their proportions, all but one having a chimneypiece, the majority of fairly standard Edwardian type (one is a compostion reusing Georgian carved material), but all enriched with Delft tiles. The second floor or attic largely retains its plan, with surviving details including panelled doors. Tiled chimneypieces remain in most rooms, though a small number have been removed or boarded over: some are of similar Edwardian type to those used elsewhere, and some more modest to fit smaller spaces. In the front rooms some roof timbers are exposed, illustrating the junctions between the front and rear ranges, with evidence of alteration. In the central front room, a pair of reused C17 heraldic demi-figures of painted stone are set as if to support the axial truss.
The cellar is located beneath the south-east portion of the house; the majority belongs to the C18 phase of the house, with brickwork walling and an arched niche, though some stone walling may be earlier. Two blocked openings to the south suggest the C18 building was originally flat-fronted, with the bows being a later addition. Austin extended the cellar slightly northwards, moving the position of the stair and providing a coal chute.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES
The site of the house is surrounded by a wall to the south and east. The eastern section along Church Lane appears to be largely of C18 date, and is constructed of red brick laid in Sussex bond with a later coping, curving into the southern end of the house; the house’s eastern elevation presumably originally abutted the road. There is now an Edwardian dwarf wall with railings alongside the house. A modified C18 section borders the terraced area behind the house. The C18 wall then continues, enclosing what is thought once to have been the kitchen garden. This section of the wall is of greater height, with short buttresses (reflecting the higher ground level within) and a brick coping; there is a large gateway with a cambered arch, probably a later alteration. To the south, along London Road, is a dwarf wall with railings dating from later in the C20. The higher canted corner between London Road and Church Lane is also of later date; these later sections are of lesser interest.
