Description

TQ 53 N SPELDHURST LANGTON ROAD (north side),
LANGTON GREEN
8/525 Dornden, Middle House and
Innerdown

II

House, divided into 3. Original phase late C19, said to have been built for
Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria. House extensively altered and
largely rebuilt in 1925 to the designs of Compton Hall (information from the
owner) in an eclectic Vernacular Revival style. The original house is local
sandstone roughly brought to course with ashlar dressings. The 1925 additions
are in stretcher bond brick with some stone buttresses and timber-framed
detail; peg-tile roof; stacks with brick shafts.

Plan: South-facing. Dornden is to the west, Innerdown to the east.
Approximately rectangular plan. Middlehouse contains the principal rooms
including the stair hall and has a front and rear porch. Dornden and
Innerdown are less regular with various asymmetrical blocks.

Exterior: 2 storeys, Middlehouse with attics. Asymmetrical 9-window south
front, the entrance block (Middlehouse) stone and slightly set back with 3
symmetrical bays with a moulded eaves cornice. 2-storey C17 style projecting
porch in the centre with Corinthian pilasters and a nowy-headed parapet with a
ball finial. Elliptical arched doorway with Tudor style spandrels and a glass
panelled door below a nowy-headed panel with a moulded string course above it.
Stone mullioned windows with square leaded panes to the porch and flanking
bays, the ground floor windows with high transoms. 2 attics dormers with
segmental arched heads. To the left of the entrance block a brick gabled
projection with left and right buttresses and close-studded framed gable with
plain bargeboards; flat-faced timber mullion and transom windows with square
leaded panes. At the extreme left a 2-bay brick block in the Queen Anne style
with a dentil cornice, timber mullioned windows and segmental-headed attic
dormer. To the right of the porch block a similar 2-bay Queen Anne style
block with windows and cornice matching the other. At the right end a one-bay
battlemented stone block with a 2-storey canted bay with sash windows. The
rear elevation continues in the same style with stone mullioned windows to
Middlehouse including a 4-light stair window with 2 transoms. Gabled rear
porch with a moulded elliptical doorway with a ball finial and a plank door
with strap hinges. Irregular east return, again with a mixture of brick and
stone and mullioned windows. The east side of the battlemented block has a
corbelled first floor stack.

Interior: The entrance hall (Middlehouse) is lined with oak panelling and
preserves a Jacobean-style stair, probably dating from the first building
phase, with a closed string, turned balusters, a moulded flat handrail and
square newels. Other interior features of interest from both phases may
survive.

Listing NGR: TQ5592039267

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26533825

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)