ENN111220 - The Roserie, 26 Westhorpe, 2023 (Building recording)

A detailed report of a 19th century house called 'The Roserie' - a Non-designated Heritage Asset. It was recorded in ‘as found’ on the 31st August 2023, during permitted alterations and conversion. While the house originated in the mid-19th century, it has architectural characteristics more usually attributed to the Georgian period. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the building was originally an estate house of the Villiers family, who were principal landowners in Sibbertoft parish throughout the second half of the 19th century. In the early 1910s the house became the residence of William Smith Cort and his family. Cort, who was a successful entrepreneurial businessman of Market Harborough (Leics.), greatly enlarged the house, modernised its principal façade and made numerous internal alterations. Observations made during the recording of the building enabled an analytical study to be made of its structure and the creation of a broad phase plan, which is correlated, wherever possible, with the documentary evidence. The resultant record sheds light on the building’s historic significance, its origin and evolution, the most probable instigators in each case - and ultimately allows a greater appreciation of the building in its present (permitted development) form. The report provides a descriptive and illustrative account of observations, by means of digital photographs and scale drawings. In November 2023, a brief report on the roof structure of the earliest part of the house was appended to the report at the request of the planning officer. It is based on photographs taken by the planning applicant’s builder prior to the commencement of work. The addendum is to be read in conjunction with the main historic building report.