Description

GRANTHAM

607/0/10032 ST CATHERINE'S ROAD
26-MAY-05 Grantham
Stonebridge House

II
House, now police headquarters. 1858, converted into offices c. 1959. Built for John Hardy a local banker. Limestone ashlar with slate hipped roof. 2-storey main block with 3-storey brick service wing to rear. Banded rustication to ground floor and to corner pilasters. Deeply bracketed cornice. Four ashlar square chimney stacks linked by a stone balustrades.
West, entrance front, has projecting off-centre ashlar porch with rounded arch entrances on three sides, flanked by Doric pilasters at the corners with balustraded parapet above. Either side single plain sashes in moulded ashlar surrounds with carved keystones and flat hoods. Above an altered 2-light casement flanked by single plain sashes in moulded surrounds.
South, garden front has central doorway with converted door and carved keystone. Either side single square bay windows each with 3 plain sashes with pilasters between and topped by a stone balustrade. Slightly projecting central bay has rusticated pilasters supporting an open pediment at the eaves with above an ashlar plinth with a shield. Central plain sash has a moulded ashlar surround crowned by an elaborate carved plaque inscribed "J. H., A. D. 1858", either side are single similar sashes with moulded surrounds.
East front has 3 tall plain sashes on the ground floor, all with moulded ashlar surrounds, carved keystones and a flat hood. Above 3 smaller sash windows all with moulded surrounds.
Three storey brick service wing to north with irregular fenestration and ashlar dressings. Bracketted cornice with through-eaves attic windows with pedimented gables. Single storey late-C20 addition not of special interest.
INTERIOR has stone lined inner porch with panelled walls and an elaborate carved fire suuround with pulvinated frieze and shell cartouche. Large, top-lit, central, double-height, staircase hall. It as a 3 flight staircase with square wooden newels and iron cross pattern balustrade with circular fluted newel at bottom. Dado to stair has painted ashlar blocking. Remaining rooms retain many panel doors and frames, some moulded plaster cornices and a few plain white marble fire surrounds.
HISTORY. Built for John Hardy, who founded the local banking house of Hardy & Co.. In 1931 the house was purchased by Mrs Dorothy Schwind, daughter of a local brewer, Col. Hutchinson. In 1940 the house was used by Camden High School for Girls and then by the Spitalgate School for Boys. In 1951 it was purchased by the Kesteven Standing Joint Committee for the Lincolnshire Police.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672066

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living