Description

LANCASTER

SD4762 OWEN ROAD, Skerton
1685-1/3/342 (West side (off))
18/02/70 Ryelands House

GV II

Large house, now welfare and social centre. c1836 and 1883.
For J Dunn, with substantial additions 1883 by Paley and
Austin. Sandstone ashlar, with ashlar dressings. Slate hipped
roofs. L-plan within a rectangle. Main range on east-west axis
with added wing at west end, various service extensions in the
angle between them.
Mostly 2 storeys, but with 3-storey tower at north end of
wing. Greek Revival style.
The symmetrical entrance front (on the east) of 2 storeys and
3 bays has a pedimented tetrastyle porch with feathered Doric
capitals to the columns, a frieze decorated with roundels, and
a pediment made in a single block. The wide doorway contains a
door with glazed round-ended porch, and the overlight has
panes of matching design. The flanking bays, which are
slightly projected, have first-floor sill bands carried across
the centre bay. Tall 12-pane sashed windows at ground floor
with plain reveals and shallow raised pediment-shaped cornices
above the lintels. The 1st floor has 9-pane sashed windows.
Hipped roof of shallow pitch, with projecting eaves, and 2
ridge chimneys flanking the middle bay. Attached at the
right-hand end is a small single-storey 3-bay addition with
pilasters, a doorway in the 1st bay and a window in the
others.
The original south facade is of 5 bays, with fenestration
matching that of the E elevation. To the left, the added wing,
slightly set back, has a projected centre with a large
rectangular bay window at ground floor and two 4-pane sashes
above.
The tripartite west facade has a set-back 3-bay central range,
in the centre of which is a prominent 2-storey pedimented bay
window, with a pilastered tripartite sashed window on both
floors. The windows in the outer bays have moulded
architraves, but the opening to the left at ground floor is a
doorway to a former conservatory, and in this angle there is
now an iron spiral fire escape. At each end of the ridge of
this range is a tall chimney.
To the left is a square 3-storey tower which has a raised
central panel to full height, finished with a pediment above
the cornice, and coupled sashed windows at 1st and 2nd floors.
A moulded cornice, balustraded parapet with urn finials at the
corners, and a low central turret with emphatically swept
lead-clad pyramidal roof with ball and spike finial. A bell in
an ornamental iron bracket is attached at the left corner of
the 1st floor. The north side of the tower has coupled windows
on all floors; the east side has a chimney stack serving the
kitchen.
INTERIOR: large entrance hall with egg-and-dart cornice.
Dogleg staircase with very ornate bronze balusters. Marble
fireplaces of varied designs. Dining room in west wing has
pilasters, modillioned plaster cornice, and pedimented
doorcases. Kitchen, at ground floor of tower has double
fireplace with surround decorated in Renaissance style.
House-keeper's room has original built-in cupboards.
HISTORY: built for Mr Jonathan Dunn, twice mayor of Lancaster.
In 1874 the estate was purchased by James Williamson (who
became Lord Ashton in 1895), who employed Paley and Austin to
make various improvements to the estate, including an
extension to Ryelands House made in 1883, for which drawings
survive.
(Ashworth S: The Lino King: York: 1989-).

Listing NGR: SD4758662627

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26507133

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.

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