Lady Royd House and Gatelodge (Ladyroyd Junior School), Toller, Bradford

Description

1/0/10158 SQUIRE LANE
11-FEB-08 LADY ROYD HOUSE AND GATELODGE (LADYROYD
JUNIOR SCHOOL)

II
House then school, 1865 and 1880, some mid C20, by Milnes and France for Henry Illingworth.

MATERIALS: dressed sandstone 'bricks' with ashlar dressings, Welsh and stone slate roofs.

PLAN: The main house has two main storeys with basement and attic floors. The plan is irregular with the main entrance on the north side and the principal rooms mainly along the south (garden) side. The 1865 section has a hall and main staircase leading from the north entrance, with reception rooms to east and south. To the west a corridor leads to service areas on the north side, while further rooms link to the 1880 section of the house which has a large reception room occupying the south-west corner of the building, and further (altered) rooms on the north side. A corridor links to a single storey C20 extension. There is a further C20 extension at the east end.

EXTERIOR: There are multiple roof lines, with some parts a full three storeys and others having dormer windows to the first floor. There are a number of chimney stacks, all with tall multiple pots in dressed stone. Windows, most with original glazing, are a variety of shouldered arch, pointed segmental, round and rectangular windows, many mullioned and some transomed. Some sashes have been replaced with casements.
North Elevation: there are five main sections: from the left (east), a gable fronted bay with a 3-light window at ground floor, a 2-light at first floor and an oculus in the gable. There is a wrought iron balcony at first floor. Next is the main entrance with a recessed door. The doorway has narrow Corinthian style engaged columns and a segmental arch above the lintel and is flanked by stepped buttresses. Above, in the narrow bay, is a triangular oriel window with a single light to each side, and a small 2-light window with oculus above in the apex of the gable. Above and behind is a square tower with windows in each side and a splayed square spire. To the right again the ground floor breaks forward, with 2-light windows to ground and first floor and a small dormer window in the roof, and then the first floor also breaks forward to form a hipped-roof bay with a pent roof over the ground floor 2-light window, and a marigold window above the 2-light first floor window. A low projecting wall separates the remaining bays. A four-light ground floor window has a variety of small windows at first floor, topped with an oculus and partly in a half-hipped gablet. A 5-light window to the right has a 2-light window topped with an oculus in a similar gablet. To the right again is the 1880 block, which has a pent-roofed entrance to the left, and a set of 3-light windows to the ground floor, and 2-light windows to the first and second floors, those on the second floor in a gablet. Beyond these is a 2-light window above steps down to the basement, and windows above matching those to the left.
West Elevation: this is partly obscured by the C20 single storey, flat-roofed extension. Above it is a first floor iron balcony and two windows, and a second floor 5-light window range rising into a gablet. To the south behind the extension is a large 5-light window at ground floor in a square bay with 2-light side window.
South Elevation: this has five main sections: from the left a gable ended bay with a large 5-light window at ground floor with a pair of 2-light windows above and a 3-light window in the gable, all in a bay that breaks forward slightly. To the right is a C20 porch at the junction point of the 1865 and 1880 parts of the house: behind it is a linking corridor and beyond and above is a 5-light window in the second floor. On the right of this section is a two-storey square bay with 3 lights to the front (facing west) and one to each side, with a gable above. The next section to the right has a basement door to the left, and a window on ground and first floors to each side of an external chimney stack. This splits at ground floor level where there is a window between the two sections. An ornamental buttress links the two sides at first floor level. To the right is a gabled bay with a two storey canted bay window, the ground floor windows being full height with steps leading up to the central window. The final section has a large 2-light window set forward and with steps, with a 2-light window and oculus above in a gablet.
East Elevation: this is partly obscured by a C20 single storey flat-roofed extension. A centrally placed entrance is to the left of an external chimney stack with a split flue and central window similar to that on the south elevation.

INTERIOR: The interior retains much of its original floor plan, and has original doorcases with decorative moulding, original panelled doors with a variety of original door furniture, elegant moulded plasterwork to the ceilings and cornices in all the principal rooms, and original joinery in the window frames.
The main entrance door leads to a lobby with decoratively inlaid ribbed and vaulted ceiling, the walls having exposed stone below and inlaid panelling above. There is an arched alcove on the left side and the floor has encaustic tiles. The inner door is a wooden half glazed double door with pointed segmental arch, with glazed lights to each side and fanlight above into a pointed arch. The hall, which is double height, contains the main staircase which is cantilevered around the perimeter forming a balcony round the first floor, with a balustrade formed of wooden column balusters with carved capitals, supporting arches which are part of a continuous handrail, and square newels at the corners with carved capitals. To the left is a white marble fireplace with a heavy carved overmantel incorporating a clock. The hall is lit overhead by a glass dome supported on carved wooden brackets. Arched corridors lead out to right and left, that to the left leading to a former external door, now leading into a C20 extension. To the left of the hall is a north facing room (North-east room) with a red marble fireplace with a split flue and central window facing east. On the south side of the corridor are two rooms. The easternmost (Divided room) is split north south, the eastern side having a black marble fireplace with tiling to the sides, facing into the extension. The window is split between the two rooms. The western room (Frieze room) has a wooden and glass screen to the adjoining room to the west, consisting of a wooden door to each end with round glazed panels above, with a half glazed panel in the centre with wooden tracery above. This room, opening from the hall and facing south with a canted bay window, has a black and white marble fireplace and a carved wooden frieze picked out in gold below the ceiling, as well as wooden beams dividing the panels of plasterwork. The doorcase and double door is very elaborate with carved panels divided by wooden corbels between the door lintel and the frieze, and decorative brass bolts on the doors.
The next room to the west (Staff room) has a fireplace with split flue and central window, with a carved wooden surround. There is a window to either side and a large window to the west. A half-height wood panelled corridor from the hall leads to a glass roofed passage joining this part of the house to the 1880 section. This has wooden and glass screens and door leading to a C20 porch to the south, and double doors at the end into a large room (Panelled room) occupying most of the 1880 section of the house. It has two large windows to the west and south, and is entirely wood panelled. The ceiling is also wood with decorated beams and bosses dividing the intricately carved panels. The double entrance doors, and a further entrance leading out to the north, have carved panelled doors and decorative carving over the lintels. The fireplace is also in wood, with a mirror incorporated in the overmantel. The windows have coloured glass in the panes above the transoms.
The north side of the ground floor is less highly decorated and has been partially subdivided to form lavatories, stores and science rooms, though the original divisions remain visible. A service stair also rises to the first floor in this area.
The first floor contains a number of rooms with matching doors and doorcases to those on the ground floor, mainly painted. There are also several fireplaces, some marble but mostly of more modest proportions than the ground floor examples, and some wood. A sub-divided room in the north-east corner has decoratively carved support brackets. There are a number of circular windows some with stained glass, and a number of rooms have decorative cornices. The attic floor contains a number of small rooms, almost all partially in the roof space. The basement is also extensive with some vaulted ceilings supported on cast iron columns.
The lodge house and attached gateway are also included. The gateway consists of a stone arch with wrought iron gates, with a small shouldered arch doorway to the right side with a timber door. To the other side is a short stretch of wall with a 3-light rectangular unglazed window.

Former Gatelodge, currently infants school, 1865.
The lodge adjoins the wall on the right hand side and is a two storey stone structure with steeply pitched slate roofs. There are two chimney stacks, one with tall stone pots.
PLAN: two single depth blocks run side by side but staggered so that the western is set further south than the eastern. Behind (to the north of) the western section is a lower hipped roof block emerging from the side of the eastern section, and there is a round tower emerging from the north-east corner of the eastern section and adjoining the gateway.
EXTERIOR: The windows are shouldered arch sashes, those on the first floor situated either in gable ends of the main roofs or in gablets to the sides. The tower has a circular spire topped with a weather vane. There are entrances to the west, alongside the tower, and east. The south front has a single window in each of the ground and first floors of the two gable ends, those at first floor rising above eaves level. To the west side the south part has an entrance but no windows, while the north part has a hipped roof with a single window in a gablet with a fire escape leading down from it. The north front has a small blocked window at ground level and a single window in the gable end with a lancet shaped relieving arch above it. The west front has the tower to the north end, with an entrance and a window to the ground floor and a window in a gablet, projecting and supported on stone corbels, above.
INTERIOR: not inspected.

HISTORY: The house was built on former open ground by the locally well-known firm of Milnes and France for the wealthy textile magnate Henry Illingworth in 1865. The same firm of architects designed the Grade II listed Whetley Mills in Bradford for the Illingworth firm, and Eli Milnes designed a number of listed buildings in the Bradford area. The house was apparently extended to the west in around 1880, but little of its subsequent history is known. The Illingworth family were extremely eminent in Bradford, and Alfred Illingworth, brother of Henry, was an active politician, serving as an MP for Knaresborough and then Bradford. Whetley Mill was the largest in Bradford, employing 1000 people at it height. It has served as a junior school for Bradford Girls Grammar School, immediately adjacent to the south, for around 70 years, and during that time extensions to each end of the building have been added, together with a small porch on the south side. These have made minimal inroads into the fabric of the original.

SETTING: the house is set on ground sloping from north to south, so the gardens to the south fall away steeply from the south front. The approach is from the north, where there is an arched gateway and a surrounding boundary wall, with the lodge house to the right. Between the road and the house there are trees and shrubs which shield the house from view from the road.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Lady Royd House and Gatelodge are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a very good example of a substantial mid-Victorian detached house
* It was designed by a well-known architect's firm, Milnes and France, for an eminent Bradford textile magnate
* It displays high levels of individual craftsmanship with the use of high quality materials, including the main staircase, and a large number of individual fireplaces, ceiling plasterwork, doors, doorcases and window frames
* Its interior decoration and floor plan survive almost intact, with a minimum of alteration and very little loss
* It incorporates some decorative features of very high quality and individuality, especially in the hall, panelled room and frieze room
* The gatelodge echoes the style of the main house and survives unaltered externally, forming an important element of the setting of the main house.

Reasons for Listing

* It is a very good example of a substantial mid-Victorian detached house
* It was designed by a well-known architect's firm, Milnes and France, for an eminent Bradford textile magnate
* It displays high levels of individual craftsmanship with the use of high quality materials, including the main staircase, and a large number of individual fireplaces, ceiling plasterwork, doors, doorcases and window frames
* Its interior decoration and floor plan survive almost intact, with a minimum of alteration and very little loss
* It incorporates some decorative features of very high quality and individuality, especially in the hall, panelled room and frieze room
* The gatelodge echoes the style of the main house and survives unaltered externally, forming an important element of the setting of the main house.

External Links

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