Description

1284/0/10018

IRONVILLE
CINDER BANK
Ironville House

15-DEC-05

II
Former doctor's house with attached surgery, mid C19, architect unknown. The main construction material is randomly laid slag lump from the nearby ironworks. Window dressings, quoins, sill bands, eaves cornice and chimney stacks are picked out in contrasting red brick. The pitched roof is slate. The plan comprises a double pile central range with cross wings to each end, flush with the main façade but projecting to the rear. The south wing and central range are of two storeys, the north wing rising to an attic. The wings and central range are each served by tall chimney stacks. The main façade faces east and the principal entrance to the house is in the south wing. It comprises a panelled door with semi-circular plain fanlight recessed into a slightly projecting brick porch in contrasting brick, with a decorative cornice and a flat roof. To the left is a single four-pane sash window, with three further identical windows to the right. All window surrounds are in red brick with segmental shallow arched heads. A plain round-headed panelled door gives access to the north wing (and the former waiting room to the doctor's surgery). Windows on the first and second floors are smaller four-pane sashes, with a narrow two-pane sash above the porch. The façade is broken by red brick sill bands marking the storeys. There is a centrally placed circular opening in the gable of the south wing.

The porch door opens into a hall with the main reception rooms opening off to either side. An archway leads to an inner hall where the principal staircase rises to the rear of the central range. The staircase is of two flights with wooden turned balusters. It is lit by a series of three skylights set into a panelled surround. Original six and four panelled doors, skirting boards and cornices survive in many rooms and original fireplaces with cast-iron register grates in some bedrooms. The north wing houses the service rooms, former doctor's surgery and waiting room. The surgery has been converted into a kitchen, but retains the original architectural joinery. There is a large brick vaulted cellar and water cistern beneath the property.

On the north side of the house, a gateway with iron gates attached to chamfered stone piers gives access to the rear of the property. There are two similar but smaller sets of gate piers along the front of the property serving the main entrance and surgery entrance doors. The property is partly bounded by a wall built of iron slag lump in the same manner as the house, with brick coping.

Ironville House is located in the centre of Ironville, a 'model village' constructed by the owners of Butterley Iron Works between 1834 and 1863. It received acclaim for its spacious houses and gardens and range of facilities, which included a doctor's surgery attached to the house.

Summary of Importance:
Ironville House is a mid C19 former doctor's house with attached surgery built by the Butterley Iron Company to serve its workforce in the model village of Ironville. It is a rare survival of a rather grand house built of slag lump from the iron furnaces. In view of the social and historical significance of this building, which survives largely unaltered, and the unusual nature of its fabric, it has been listed at Grade II.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670811

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)