Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 28/09/2020

TR 2035 SW
8/43

SANDGATE
UNDERCLIFF
Shorncliffe Lodge

17.4.74.

II
A mid C19 house in a whimsical Gothic style reminiscent of the Regency period. Irregular plan. The front elevation is two to three storeys and basement stuccoed. Central pedimented gable with pierced bargeboards. Lancet-headed windows with dripmoulding. Second floor windows have foliated corbels. First floor windows have eight corbels in the shape of assorted medieval heads. Square porch with round-headed arch and double lancet lights on the sides. To the left of the gabled portion is a portion sub-divided and now known as "The Keyes" with a doorcase having trefoliated heads. The portion to the right is known as 'Woodside' and has a two storey extension to its extreme right. The garden elevation has a central pierced gable, coved eaves cornice and stringcourse. Mainly casement windows on the left hand portion having iron balconettes on the second floor and with dripmoulding to the right hand portion. Two three-light bays to the ground floor and central three-light curved bow to first floor with three Gothic pointed lights and balcony with band of quatrefoils. This is supported on four square columns decorated with trefoliated panels and fan tracery above. Triple trefoliated-headed lights to French windows behind. Later glass conservatory. The garden elevation dominates the hillside above Sandgate and is partly listed for this reason.

Shorncliffe Lodge was purchased by Edward Albert Sassoon, a prominent British merchant banker and politician of the leading Baghdadi Jewish business dynasty, and his wife Aline Caroline de Rothschild, after Sassoon’s election as MP for Hythe, a constituency previously represented by Meyer de Rothschild. The Rothschild family owned property in the area since the early C19, using it as a staging point for couriers and carrier pigeons for their communication system with the Continent.

Listing NGR: TR2025635290

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Shorncliffe Lodge at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q20055554

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas