Description

CONISTON
SD 39 NW
5/68 Brantwood
25.3.70

GV II*

House. c.1797, extended to rear and to right, c.1833; turret added, 1871;
dining room added 1878; 2nd storey to rear wing added in 1880s, studio 1897; bay
window and octagonal bay added 1905. Roughcast with hipped slate roofs. Front
range, overlooking lake, of 2 storeys and 4 bays, the 1st bay is higher and
forms elongated octagon on plan; 2nd bay has rectangular bay window with wooden
balustrade; 4th bay has angle turret. Windows are sashed with glazing bars, but
1st bay has leaded glazing. 2nd bay has tripartite sashes; 3rd bay has bowed
tripartite sash. Hexagonal turret to 1st floor on attached pier; full-height
leaded glazing to 5 sides, and pyramidal roof. Cross-axial stack and gable-end
stack. Rear wing has various stacks including paired gable-end stacks. Right
return has decorative barge-boards and round-headed stair window, the glazing
bars with intersecting heads; one-storey dining room projection; hipped roof
with flat centre section. Angles have stone double-chamfered clasping
buttresses. Front canted French window and return stone window of
7 trefoilheaded lights over weathered projection, the lights having roll moulded
openings and trefoils and sexfoils to spandrels. Rear wing of 3 storeys has
sashed windows with glazing bars, those to end bay above archway are
tripartite. Entrance has 6-fielded-panel door and archway has keystone with
letters: "JR". Left hand angle has 2nd floor oriel wrapped round angle with
small-paned glazing. Studio to rear of one storey, but on level with 2nd floor;
small hipped porch and large tripartite sash. Left return has canted oriel over
archway; angle gabled oriel to end of 2nd floor and entrance with glazed
doorcase and overlight with glazing bars. Interior: doors have architraves
with angle rosettes; dining room has coved ceiling and marble fireplace with
round-arched grate. Other rooms have marble fireplaces. Studio has elliptical-
arched fireplace recess, fireplace has 4-centred arch and tiled surround; leaded
glazing to small window. Shelves over original radiator. Another room has
fireplace tiles by Burne-Jones. Noted as the home of John Ruskin, C19 art
critic and social critic, from 1872 until his death in 1900. Also the home of
William Linton, wood engraver and revolutionary socialist and his wife, the
novelist Eliza Lynn; the poet Gerald Massey; and the water colourist Arthur
Severn and his family.

Listing NGR: SD3125895854

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Brantwood at Wikipedia
• Brantwood official website
• Wikidata Q4957701

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)