Description

SE 36 NW LITTLETHORPE HARROGATE ROAD
(east side, off)

6/43 Hollin Hall
6.3.67

GV II*

Country house. Late C17, possibly for Sir William Thomson, with alterations
early C19 for Richard Wood. Red brick, stuccoed and painted, ashlar
dressings, stone slate roof to main ranges; coursed rubble and brick with
pantile roofs to outbuildings. Quoins. A complicated plan composed of:
1) a 2-storey, L-shaped principal range with east (entrance) front of 5
bays, and a south front with 6 first-floor windows. 2) 2-storey
L-shaped kitchen and service wing attached to the north end of the rear of
the entrance range, 3 bays to each side. A single-storey corridor links the
kitchen in this range to the dining-room in the south-facing block. 3) L-
shaped range of single- and 2-storey outbuildings attached to the north end
of the main (east) front and enclosing the north and east sides of a
courtyard with the service range enclosing the south and west sides. A wall
with double gateway links the outbuildings to the service range north end.
Entrance front: quoins to end bays, these and central bay projecting
slightly. Central C20 glazed door with fanlight flanked by narrow windows
in Tuscan portico of paired columns supporting entablature, deep cornice and
blocking course. Paired 8-pane sashes above. Other windows sashes with
glazing bars and projecting stone sills, those to bays 2 and 4 have lower
sills and are of 15 panes. 2 glazed blind windows ground-floor left.
Ashlar first-floor band, wooden dentilled eaves cornice, blocking course cut
by triangular pediment with oeil de boeuf over central bay. Steeply-pitched
roof with hips over outer bays. Ridge stacks between bays 1 and 2, 3 and 4.
Rear: central round-arched staircase window, 16-pane sashes and C19
casements. A steeply-pitched gable, left (partly obscured by attached
service range) and centre, both have gable copings. Left return, south
front: quoins to left. Tall 15-pane sashes to ground floor, sashes with
glazing-bars above, the window to right blind. First-floor band, cornice
and blocking course as east front. Service range, west side, has tripartite
windows, servant's bell on hipped roof and 2 ridge stacks. High wall
attached to left has segmental carriage arch with board double doors.
Courtyard: north range - 2-storey block left, pigeon loft over. Right-
opening with wooden lintel flanked by segmental-arched cart entrances;
dentilled eaves cornice, pent roof. West range: board doors and small-paned
windows to privy on left, wash house, fuel stores to centre and right,
all under pent roof. Interior: main (east) range: central entrance hall has
stone floor and egg and dart ceiling moulding. Fine carved wooden
fireplaces to morning room, library, drawing room and study, the motifs on
the latter repeated in glass-fronted cabinet against west wall. Other good
fireplaces to first floor. Dentilled cornice of morning room, moulded
cornice to drawing room, elaborate diamond-shaped ceiling-moulding to dining
room. Ground-floor doors are of 6 fielded panels; all windows have panelled
rebates and shutters; fireplaces have original cast-iron grates. Staircase
has plain balusters with moulded mahogany handrail rising in 2 straight
flights to landing with 2 fluted columns in antis and with acanthus-like
decoration to capitals. A curved 'balcony' links the first-floor east and
south landings. First-floor room on left has some C17 panelling and narrow
stair next to chimney, giving access to a room hidden within the roof space.
Hollin Close Hall is recorded in the Ripon Cathedral registers in 1589. It
passed in 1649 to the Thomson family and in 1719 to John Wood of
Copmanthorpe whose descendant Richard (d 1815) made extensive alterations to
the house c1811 and changed the name to Hollin Hall. Family papers record
that the foundations of the 'new dining room' were laid 4 June 1811,this
probably comprising the western 3 bays of the south range. A painting of
c1700 kept at the hall shows this front with 5 windows and much narrower
overall than the present facade,and internal changes and differences suggest
that the south facade was refenestrated when the addition was made. Other
alterations made by Richard Wood are: addition of portico, lowering of
window sills on east front, rendering (not shown in early picture)
concealing the refenestration, renewal of eaves cornice and probably the
construction of the rear service range and alteration to the courtyard.
Although such alterations are drastic, the east facade retains a strong
similarity to the west front of Newby Hall (c1695, only 2 miles to the
east), omitting the third storey and with triangular rather than segmental
pediment.

Listing NGR: SE3131767286

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536567

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)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)