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Description

HARLAXTON SK8932 GRANTHAM ROAD 1315-0/15/163 (South side (off)) 19/02/52 Harlaxton Manor GV I Country house, and adjoining outbuildings. Now a university. 1832-1844. The owner, Gregory Gregory, acted largely as his own architect, in collaboration with Anthony Salvin 1832-1838, and with William Burn and David Bryce 1838-1854. Edward Blore was also consulted. The remarkable interior decoration, c1837-1854, incorporates many resited French and German architectural items, and important plasterwork probably by Bernasconi. Ancaster stone and brick, with gabled and hipped slate roofs. Numerous ashlar stacks with multiple coped square flues. Elizabethan, Revival style. Plinth, sill bands, shaped coped gables with finials. 2 storeys plus basement and attics: 11 x 5 bays. Combination of H- and E-plans. Windows are fixed lights and casements with stone surrounds, mullions and transoms, and leaded glazing. Symmetrical west front has a projecting 5 bay central feature with a pierced lettered balustrade dated 1837. Central 2 storey round oriel window flanked by 2 storey polygonal bay windows with square bases and topped with ogee domed octagonal turrets. Round arched doorway with faceted keystone and voussoirs, half-glazed double door and fanlight. Above and behind, an arched square base carrying an octagonal turret with a clock dial, and topped with an ogee domed octagonal cupola and weather vane. Double side bays have 2 windows on the main floors, the lower ones larger, round arched through-eaves dormers, and 3 smaller windows to the basement. Gabled wings have canted 3-storey bay windows with strapwork crests and octagonal angle turrets with ogee domes and finials. To left, a service wing, 1843, by Burn, forming the north side of the forecourt, and containing the former brewery. Central square 2 storey tower with paired angle pilasters and strapwork balustrade with a central round arched niche, set back between wings. At each corner, a square stack. 18-light double transomed window, and below, a round arched recess with shafts and voussoirs, containing a 12-light window. Recessed side bays have a blocked door to right and a window to left, with scrolled panels above. Beyond, 3 bay ranges with a central triangular bay window and strapwork balustrades and 2 stacks. The brewery, to left, has a round corner turret with a domed cupola, and a gable stack on corbels. South return, to garden, has a balanced asymmetrical facade, 2 storeys, with domed polygonal corner turrets. To left, a gabled bay with a canted 2 storey bay window. To right, a bay with a 6-light window on each floor, flanked to left by a canted 2 storey bay window with a round arched arcade to the ground floor. To right, a gabled bay with a square projection and a 2 storey round bay window. All the bay windows have strapwork crests. Conservatory, to right, single storey, 5 x 2 bays, has glazed roofs with central clerestorey, and wooden framed glazing bar windows flanked by pilasters. Pedimented centre flanked by single windows, then canted end bays with hipped roofs. Right return has a similar canted corner bay. Rear has a more elaborate pedimented centre with double doors and overlight, flanked by 3 windows. East elevation has a balanced facade. Full height central block has 3 tall 12-light windows divided by buttresses, and through-eaves dormers above. To left, an external stack, then a 3 story polygonal bay window with buttresses, in the return angle. To right, a similar larger unbuttressed bay window with a single bay link to the right wing. In the link, a window with strapwork crest and balcony, and below, a glazed door and overlight. The central block is set in a sunken court flanked by pierced balustrade walls. Beyond, gabled wings, with 2 storey canted bay windows and strapwork crests, and attic windows in the gables. To right, an open loggia with panelled balustrade and 3-bay round arched arcade. To right again, plain gabled wing to service range. Service courtyard (Pegasus Courtyard) to north of the main building, is in a much plainer. East side has to left a square 2 storey tower recessed between 2 storey gabled wings, 2 windows. To right, a set back range with a facing gable and an external stack, then a 4 bay block with irregular fenestration. North range, formerly domestic stables, has a central external stack flanked by 3 windows, all with mid C20 glazing. To left, a square tower gatehouse with parapet and round corner turret, and a Tudor arched carriage opening with double gates, leading to the main stable block. To left of the arch, a door in the same style. To right, a square crenellated 2 storey tower set at an angle. The south side of the courtyard is formed by the service wing and former brewery, and has a projecting 3 bay centre with central tower and round arched opening. To the north east, a curved brick viaduct, 3 stages, with buttresses and slate roof, containing a narrow gauge railway for supplying the service courtyard. The interior has a "prodigious display of of decorative virtuosity unparalled in C19 England" (Beard). The entrance vestibule has at the north end two 3-bay arcades with heavily rusticated round arches adorned with enormous ashlar trophies. Early C19 Classical marble fireplace with double Ionic columns. Open well north west stair has a cast-iron foliage balustrade and a ceiling with strapwork star compartments and pendants. Great Hall on east side, 2 storeys, has a low pitched panelled cross beam ceiling with shaped paired brackets and pendants carried on terms. Buttressed half-height wooden panelling incorporating seats. Massive chimneypiece with-panelled and waisted square pilasters and overmantel with central crest flanked by round arched niches. Screen with rusticated round arched doorway flanked by columns, then by round arched aedicules, all under a strapwork parapet. At the dais end, to left, a bay window under a vault, with stained glass by Willement, 1837. State dining room, to west, has round arched wooden wall panelling, a frieze of shields, and an exceptionally rich strapwork ceiling. Large red and white marble chimneypiece with black marble columns. Moulded doorcases with sculptured, crested overdoors. Ante room to south has scrolled plasterwork ceiling with recessed central panel, and heavily enriched Classical fireplace. Adjoining long gallery, to the south front, in early C18 French style, has panelled walls and a sky ceiling with enriched borders. Canted east end has a mottled marble doorcase with columns, flanked by tall mirrors, then round arched niches with mirrors above. West end has a bay window. 2 mottled marble fireplaces and in the centre of the long sides, double doors with elaborate surrounds. Main stairwell has a white marble doorcase with open pediment containing putti and twist columns. Open well Cedar Staircase, fully descibed by Pevsner, has Baroque decoration of outstanding complexity, culminating in a sky ceiling with concealed windows, below which are 6 balconies with figures. Gold drawing room, to east, has plaster panelled walls and enriched frieze, coved ceiling and rounded corners, 2 of them with curved double doors. Marble fireplace with bracketed cornice and overmantel mirror. Conservatory, to south east, has 2 massive pedimented ashlar doorcases with marble columns, those to the north twisted. Open well family staircase, to north east, has scrolled bronze balustrade and ramped handrail. Attic level corridors have Renaissance Revival style ornament, and doors with strapwork panels. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N, Harris J & Antram N: Lincolnshire: London: 1964-1989: 362-367; Rowlands G: Harlaxton Manor: Cambridge: 1988-: 40-52, 157). Listing NGR: SK8953432282

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