Survey Data
Reg No
60260041
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Rockville
Original Use
Gate lodge
Date
1911 - 1937
Coordinates
320666, 222623
Date Recorded
07/12/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, extant 1937, on a rectangular plan with three-bay single-storey rear (south) elevation. Now disused. Hipped slate roof with lichen-spotted terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having red brick corbelled stepped capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta octagonal pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on timber eaves boards. Repointed coursed or snecked rock faced granite walls with tooled cut-granite flush quoins to corners. Square-headed central door opening approached by flight of five concrete steps with tooled cut-granite lintel framing glazed panelled door. Square-headed flanking window openings in bipartite arrangement with cut-granite sills, and tooled cut-granite block-and-start surrounds framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings in bipartite arrangement to rear (south) elevation with cut-granite sills, and yellow brick block-and-start surrounds framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Rockville House.
Appraisal
A gate lodge not only contributing positively to the group and setting values of the Rockville House estate, but also illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the estate in the early twentieth century with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a featureless doorcase; the rock faced surface finish offset by silver-grey granite dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; the elegant bipartite glazing patterns; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, thus upholding the character or integrity of a gate lodge making a pleasing, if largely inconspicuous visual statement in a sylvan street scene.