Description

ACKWORTH STATION ROAD (north SE41NW side, off) Low Ackworth 2/32 The Court 25.3.1968 GV II

Large house. Early C19; altered. Sandstone ashlar. Double-depth 3-unit plan, 2½ storeys, with single-storey wings. Symmetrical 3-bay pedimented centre has a projected ground floor and full-width wrought-iron verandahs to both floors, that at ground floor on a low terrace broken in the centre by 5 steps leading to a recessed round-headed doorway with glazed double doors, fanlight with radiating glazing bars, and Tuscan architrave; to each side is a tall tripartite window with pilasters; the 1st floor has glazed double doors in the centre, with a moulded architrave, and slightly smaller tripartite windows on each side, with fluted pilasters; the pediment contains a central lunette. The unusually fine verandah has at ground floor an open- work balustrade in panels of horizontal figures-of-eight scrolls with acanthus decoration and Vitruvian scroll friezes, panelled stone piers each side of the door and at each end carrying wrought-iron standards with rectilinear latticing in the lower and wavy latticing in the upper parts, and radiating spandrels to a frieze of intersecting ovals; the upper verandah is a 7-bay arcade of segmental-headed arches with latticed standards and frieze, carrying a flat roof. This element has tall side-wall chimneys; flanking it are single-storey wings with semicircular ends, each with a doorway in the front wall and sashed windows in the ends; that on the left has an added upper storey with flat roof. The rear has a central doorway with architrave and cornice, a round-headed stair window above, 2 tripartite windows on each floor, and a lunette in the pediment; each flanking wing is linked to a large round-headed archway breaking into a pediment, with a screen wall beyond. Interior: dog-legged stone staircase with iron balusters alternately straight and wavy; some moulded plaster ceiling decoration. History: formerly known as Ackworth Villa; owned, 1823-64, by Luke Howard, a London chemist, whose studies of cloud formations contributed to the foundations of the science of meteorology.

Listing NGR: SE4477817576

External Links

• Wikidata Q26482410

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Recommended Books

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments