Description

OFFLEY HITCHIN ROAD
TL 12 SW (East side)
Luton

6/93 Putteridge Bury
- (Luton College of
Higher Education)

GV II

Country house, now a college of education. 1908-11 by Ernest George and
Alfred Yeates for Thomas Meadows Clutterbuck, on site of a Regency
house, George's last country house. Gardens redesigned by
Gertrude Jekyll and E.L. Lutyens. A research station 1954-62, acquired
by Luton Corporation 1965. Narrow red brick in English-bond with moulded
limestone dressings, windows and doorways. Chequerwork of limestone and
squared knapped flint to high plinth on entrance front and lower stage
of central porch on garden front. Half-timbered jettied gables upper
parts to W service block. Steep roofs of graduated stone slabs to all
parts, and tall ornamental red brick chimneys. A tall U-shaped
2-storeys, attics and cellars house in the English Early Renaissance
Style, with an irregular lower W service block designed to appear as an
older half-timbered house. Irregular recessed entrance front on N with
unequal gabled wings, dining room in shorter W wing, ballroom in larger
E wing. 3 steps to central 4-centred arched and moulded entrance with
heavy battened oak door with decorative iron hinges. Continuous
dripmould stepping down over 2-light mullioned windows with arched heads
to lights flanking the doorway and again over row of 2-light
square-headed mullion windows to each side. Carved heraldic panel over
door has mantled shield with lion rampant with 3 scallops in chef and
helmet with seated stag as crest. Crenelated parapet above trefoil
headed windows of 1st floor. Tall projecting bay of staircase in angle
to left. Symmetrical 7-windows wide (S) garden front with 4 parapeted
gables separated by 2 large 2-storeys, semi-octagonal bay windows with
mullioned and transomed stone windows and crenelated parapets, and
narrow 2-storeys central porch of equal height to bays. 3 large chimneys
along ridge. 4-centred arched doorway in expanded base of porch in
chequerwork. Cross-window to 1st floor and armorial plaque over large
sundial above. Broad York stone terrace with red brick for revetment
wall and separate piers and dies supporting arched stone coping. Flights
of steps each end lead down to garden. S range of 2-storeys W service
block faced in narrow red brick where seen from garden has twin
half-timbered gables near E end and large projecting chimney near W end
with 3 tall multi-faceted shafts and brick pediment motif on base. E end
of this wing is a 3-arched loggia with diagonal corner buttress, 2
arches in E end and oriel window under jettied gable triangle. Recessed
link to main house has continuous leaded glazed jettied timber framed
gallery to 1st floor with herringbone brick panels and transomed
continuous leaded windows to ground floor with heavy battened door on
right. Loggia has moulded stone arches, grey and white patterned stone
floor, and plaster compartmented ceiling with rosettes and central
figure with initials 'B.M:1.9:T.M:0.8' in a circle around interlaced
capital Cs. The date '1908' appears on rainwater heads on N, E, and S
fronts. Service block has oak mullioned windows transomed on ground
floor under segmental relieving arches, and flat topped dormers on
roofslope of W side. N side has 3 gabled projections with red brick on
ground floor but jettied and half-timbered above. Very large window to
servants' hall in middle wing. The interior is in keeping with oak
panelling and panelled doors, half-glazed screens with many small panes,
Flemish-style dog-leg stair with moulded string, turned balusters and
triangular wooden steps moulded on the raking underside. Painted
heraldic glass set in ground floor windows on S front to E of central
porch. Oak panelled rectangular dining room with elaborate plaster
barrel vault with strapwork and mythological scenes. Carved chimneypiece
with caryatid supports and strapwork over mantle. Tall ballroom with
fluted pilasters on pedestals. (Clive Aslet The Last Country Houses
London (1982) 129, 327).

Listing NGR: TL1196424780

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Putteridge Bury at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7262469

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

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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
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