Description

1. ALUMHURST ROAD
5l86 (West Side)
Branksome Dene
Convalescent Home
SZ 0690 2/68 17.1.71.

II

2.
1860, E B Lamb for C A King, vastly enlarged circa 1880 for Lord Wimborne (probably
by W H Romaine-Walker) and circa 1913-14 for Sir Ernest Cassel (interiors by
Sir Guy Dawber). Original villa plain Barry-Italianate, buff brick and stucco,
3 windows wide. 3 canted bays to garden (west) elaborate wrought-iron verandah
with pairs of fluted Ionic colonnettes at centre and ends, scrolly openwork arches
between. Garden terrace balustraded, with urns, large formal garden. Entrance
front (east) with rusticated stucco ground floor, tripartite windows on 1st floor
with segmental pediments over centre lights. Console-bracketed eaves, balustraded
parapet. Big south wing circa 1880 of similar character (2 more canted bays to
garden). North wing with lower service rooms, extended circa 1914 by long plain
range recessed behind earlier Jacobean billiard-room.
Interior has 2 living rooms from Lamb, with rich plaster cornices and rosettes,
mixing arabesque, French and foliage patterns. Staircase hall skylit, with glazed
round-arched clerestory and tall tripartite doorway to service wing, elaborate
scrolly stair rail. But the house's importance lies in the interior of the south
wing: 3 rooms and a garden lobby, all interconnected by sliding doors. 2 end
rooms have surprisingly classical interiors of circa 1880, each with genuine Adam-period
chimneypiece surmounted by richly garlanded round-headed window (with coat-of-arms
at apex). Bay windows flanked by fluted piers, friezes of alternating triglyphs
and medallions, ceiling frame of guilloche. The present Board Room is a classical
cube of circa 1914 by Dawber. Walls panelled in mahogany with segmental pedimental
over overmantel, genuine Georgian fireplace (frieze of Diana). Deep coving to
ceiling, acanthus pattern to circular ceiling frame. Also by Dawber the groin-vaulted
passage to south wing.

Listing NGR: SZ0695790324

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26610315

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)