Description

ELYSIAN FIELDS
1.
1633
(North Side)
Sidholme
SY 1288 7/68
II
2.
Gothicised villa built for the Earl of Buckingham in 1826 with later exten-
sions and alterations. Stuccoed. South garden front has main block of
3 storeys, 1 in attic. 3 gables, centre one smaller, with ornamental
bargeboards and finials. The front is extended for one bay on ground
and 1st floors to west with similar gable to those on 3 storeys part.
Across the 1st floor rune a balcony with elaborate Victorian cast iron
balustrade, supported on iron columns with tracery brackets. 3 windows
2nd floor, the outer ones 2-light marginal glazed casements with pointed
top panes, drip moulds over, the centre window marginal glazed casement
in cambered arched recess. 4 windows to 1st floor, 2 canted bays with
camber headed marginal glazed lights and stepped leaded tent roofs rather
in "Chinoiserie" taste. 2 French windows with drip moulds over. The
wall on ground floor has thin stucco blind arcading with colonettes and
pointed cusped arches. Windows transomed casements later C19 and door.
East wing set back and decreasing in height from 3 storeys to 1 storey.
Gable end slate roofs with ornamental fascia boards. Some of original
marginal glazed Gothic casements survive. The rest altered and ground
floor built out. 2 service blocks terminate east wing both of 2 storeys,
one with parapet raised as pediment over centre, the other with low pitch
slate roof. Fenestration altered but on pedimented block 3 casement windows
grouped in centre of 1st floor with pediment over middle one. The entrance
front faces west and has an asymmetrical cement rendered elevation of
2 and 3 storeys. 3 gabled bays with ornamental bargeboards and finials.
2 storeyed projecting gabled porch with 6-light bay window with panelled
apron above door set in moulded pointed arch. Rest of fenestration irregular
with some later alterations, bay windows and some casements still with
marginal glazing, with drip moulds over. The balcony and veranda returned
from south front for one bay. Projecting from north side of the house
is the Music Room, added by the Earl of Buckingham circa 1826. Tall stucco
faced block on elongated Greek cross plan with canted ends to arms. Lit
by very tall round headed sashes with glazing bars intact. It has a very
fine interior, Neo-classical with some Rococo elements. Painted decoration,
partly in grisaille, and guilded stucco work. The walls articulated by
panelled pilasters and a high ribbed domical vault rising from cornice.
2 columned marble mantle pieces, mirrors above with elaborate Rococo frames.
'Gothic' organ case. Fine chandelier. Broad staircase with turned arcaded
balusters rises up into 1st floor of house at south end of room. The
house was the boyhood home of Professor F. A. Lindemann, Viscount Cherwell.
Sidholme is part of a group of early to mid C19 villas in particularly
fine settings on a residential cul-de-sac in the upper part of the town.

Listing NGR: SY1254388065

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546671

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair