Details
ROCHDALE ROAD
SE 02 SE
679-/7/10014 Allangate
Nos 112, 114 and 116
II*
Part of former Mansion, now subdivided. Centre block built by Bernard
Hartley c1810; West Wing (no. 120 q.v.) added c1845; matching East
Wing added c1870 for Thomas Shaw MP who commissioned Dr. Christopher
Dresser to remodel and decorate the interior between 1870 and 1873.
Thin coursed stone with ashlar dressings, blue-slate roof. 2 storeys
with basement and attics, six tall stone chimney-stacks. Original
House Neo-Classical in style with Italianate additions. Central house
- C D C (including no. 118 q.v.) has hipped roof; flanked by B: lower
narrower bays which form links with A: taller wings with hipped ends
and oversailing roofs. East Wing (no.112), set forward, raised
quoins, ground-floor band and sill band. Single bay of windows with
architraves. Rusticated basement with channelled and battered ashlar;
original doorway set below French window with stained glass overlight,
consoles and cornice, which opens onto balcony with cornice and stone
balustrade. Window above has lintel band which forms deep ashlar
bracketed eaves. 2 lateral stacks to left-hand return. Right-hand
return: 3-bay symmetrical facade, with quoined angles, fronts raised
garden. Recessed arched doorway with impost and key-stone, flanked
by tall French windows with overlights and eared architraves. On
either side of windows and door small round windows. Above are scars
of lean-to verandah or conservatory. First-floor windows as front
with architrave and altered glazing. B: link to original house - has
2 tall arched stair windows at mezzanine level. Ground floor covered
by glazed lean-to forming entrance to no.114. D C: (original house)
breaks forward - has segmental 2-storey bow with 3-light window to
each floor, ground floor has central door (for no.116) approached by
short flight of stairs. Outer bay has tripartite window with single
light above, sill band. Quoin pilasters. Bracketed eaves with
oversailing roof; glazed pyramid over central bay projection.
Interior: no.112. Basement door enters square Entrance Hall floored
with encaustic tiles. Stair, to left (partly blocked off) has
panelled sides and painted dado. Above the stairs (formerly at the
first half-landing) finely sculpted bas-relief roundel of a winged
female and a cherub symbolic of Night. The elevated ground floor
contained the Drawing Room, now divided into two rooms, retains
important decorative scheme by Dresser: southern part has original
black marble fireplace with incised gold decoration, blue tiles and
mirrored overmantel with ebonised frame with incised gold work inset
with Wedgwood plaque; northern part has modern fireplace constructed
of parts of left-hand recess, that to right survives.
They were intended for plants decorated around the top with a frieze
in ebonised wood and gold lettering with biblical text. The two
halves of the room were linked by wide segmental archway framed by
fluted pilasters now painted cream. The east wall has three French
windows with painted and etched glass overlights of botanical
subjects. All retain original black-and-gold lacquered curtain poles.
Set either side the windows, four stained-glass medallions, with
ebonised surrounds, of female heads personifying Morning, Noon Evening
and Night. The medallions are lit by gas-lighting set behind at
night. The magnificent double coffered-ceiling is painted in blue,
black and gold with panels decorated with floral patterns in the
Japanese style. The doors retain enamelled finger-plates and
lignumvitae-turned door knobs. Stair with half-landings, slender
pilasters from which spring arched vault. First floor has doorways
set within recessed arches, landing top-lit by stained-glass panels
of abstract design. Curving back-stair lit by arched window of
stained glass. Two bedrooms retain original black marble fireplaces.
No. 114. Entrance hall has to left, doorway set within a recessed arch
which leads to original Library. North wall has shallow segmental-
arched bookcase set between painted Tuscan columns, originally of
black marble with gold ornamentation on the pediment and capital. Set
either side, niches for statues. The ceiling is divided into 3
panels: the central panel was painted by Dresser in a style similar
to an oriental rug, it was considered by Dresser 'to be the most
remarkable feature in the whole building, and to be his own veritable
masterpiece'. The original wall decoration is wallpapered over. No
116-contains the right-hand part of the original Dining Room lit by
large semi-circular bay window with colonettes attached to mullions
and original rail carried by corbels. Set in front, another curtain
rail in black ebonised wood with incised gold decoration. Richly
moulded ceiling cornice and deep moulded skirting board. The original
fireplace has been replaced, but the tiled base decorated with
quatrefoils survives. The recess on each side of the fireplace has
a full-height mirror. The wall opposite (west) has wide double-
doorway (blocked) with pilastered surround which formerly lead to the
other part of the Dining Room. Cellar under Dining Room has stone sink
and water-pump. The back-door has a stained-glass overlight. The
Dining Room Chamber, the canted ceiling to the curved bay-window was
painted with silver stars on a blue ground - sufficient survives to
indicate the pattern; the walls are painted a purple-brown colour with
a black stencilled dado; retains a Dresser fireplace in black marble
with incised decoration, inset with tiles of a bold design. A large
arched doorway formerly lead to a Dressing Room. The main bedrooms
opened off a long corridor here converted to a bathroom. the stained
glass leaded into star designs. Dr Christopher Dresser was
responsible for promoting the idea of an aesthetic interior through
his various publications such as Principles of Decorative Design. Few
such interiors have survived intact.
Widar Halen in his important study of Dresser (1990) describes
Allangate as 'one of the first aesthetic interiors in Britain'.
Castles & County Houses in Yorkshire, 1885, illustrates and gives a
detailed description of the house and its contents, the writer
emphasizing that there were no houses in Yorkshire, and few in
England, which were decorated in such excellent taste.
The surviving decorative scheme by Dresser at Allangate is the reason
for the high grading. Photographic survey by RCHM (E). West
Yorkshire Archaeology Service, Sites and Monuments Record (Wakefield).
See also Linstrum, D. West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture,
1978, p116.
Listing NGR: SE0739324303
