Description

SK 04 SW CHEADLE C.P. OAKAMOOR ROAD (North side)

6/73 Hales Hall 2.5.53 GV II*

Small country house. 1712. Built for Mrs Grosvenor (grand-daughter of Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England 1670-1676). Late C19 additions. Red brick with even rusticated stone quoins and plinth, floor band and surround; hipped tile roof set on widely projecting moulded cornice broken over quoins with extravagant dentil course; leaded flat centre from which the brick stacks rise. Fine Baroque style, double- pile plan. Entrance front of two storeys and attic, five windows; glazing bar sashes in moulded surrounds with raised keystones, the centre first-floor window has in addition drapes of foliage and moulded consoles and an apron, visually a blocking course for the central entrance with swan necked pediment bearing a coat of arms, set on a frieze and pilastered surrounds running down to steps at plinth level, the entrance retains the keystone of the fenestration, in this case dropped over a rectangular overlight and double (C19) 3-panel doors; three dormers are set in roof, all pedimented and with ball finials, the centre segmental; lead downpipes with ornamental heads; the front is flanked to left by a single-storey late C19 projecting billiard room of derivative style which part obscures the original service wing which was short and set within the quoins back and front; lower than the main house but without such fine details (remodelled mid C19) and upsetting the symmetry of the remainder. Garden front at right angles to the entrance and facing south, almost identical but the bays are slightly narrower and the entrance played down (steps now missing) with cornice only and set on a concave frieze and moulded surround without pilasters; the double four panel doors may be original. Rear elevation: a further 5-window front with segmental head glazing bar sashes, many now blocked or part blocked. Central stair window: a larger, lower insertion with round-arch glazing bar head; the heads of the originals are visible over; single storey gabled extension to centre of rear. Interior: the exterior implication of a double pile is not borne out on the interior due to alterations. All the ground floor rooms are fully panelled and with 8-panel doors. Entrance hall raised panels, elliptical arch to stair hall, fireplace with stone bolection moulded surround; room to left also panelled and with original panelling over fireplace with C19 surround. Library: reset panelling with bookcases formed into window and door recesses; moulded cornice; C20 tiled fireplace. Stair Hall: formerly with two stair windows, now with a single late C18 window placed at higher level. Dog-leg stair; wide curtail and small scroll; heavy moulded handrail swan-neck ramped at angles and on two barley sugar twist balusters to each tread; open string with carved consoles, delicately picked out with foliage; balustrade at head of stairs also swan-necked at angles; plaster ceiling has deep oval wreath of foliage and moulded cornice (not so well lit as it would have been with the original windows); elliptical arch enters centre (double pile) bed chamber passage. First-floor rooms have panelling to dado level and 8-panel doors. Bedroom over Library has heavy-moulded cornice and bolection surround to fireplace; similar cornice to bedroom over entrance hall.

SK 04 SW CHEADLE C.P. OAKAMOOR ROAD (North side)

6/73 Hales Hall (continued)

Servants staircase in service wing almost spiral with short straight runs of heavy handrail and closed string with turned balusters and heavy newels; possibly part re-used C17 material; attic storey reached only by service stairs; central passage retained, boarded and battened doors with strap hinges of C17 type.

Listing NGR: SK0214244041

External Links

• Wikidata Q17531692

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Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)