Building record 4709/3/1 - Courteenhall House & Attached Offices

Country house designed by Samuel Saxon and constructed in 1793. It comprises a rectangular block of 3 storeys, constructed of ashlar stone with a slate roof.

{1} Country House. Built 1791-93 by Samuel Saxon for Sir William Wake, 9th baronet. Limestone ashlar (local limestone with Weldon stone dressings), hipped slate roof, brick lateral and ridge stacks. Modified double-pile plan. Neo-classical style. 3 storeys and basement. 5-bay entrance front has central part-glazed double-leaf doors, approached by 5 stone steps in moulded wood surround with overlight, flanked by three-quarter Tuscan columns and narrow 8-pane sash windows. Blank panel above door, plain frieze either side with dentilled cornice, door and side windows within shallow segmental-headed recess. 12-pane sash windows to ground floor in similar recesses, all with moulded stone surrounds on brackets with paterae. Similar sashes to 1st floor with flat-arched heads. 6-pane sashes to basement and attic floors. Weldon stone plinth. Central 3 bays break forward and ground floor arches linked by cornice moulding with plain frieze moulding to piers. First floor sill band, dentilled stone eaves cornice and blocking cornice. Steps flanked by low stone plinths bearing cast-iron standard lamps with circular globes and finials. 7-bay garden front has similar set of sash windows, those to ground floor of 3-bay centre flanked by Ionic columns with plain frieze and dentilled cornice, and all set within segmental-headed recesses. Centre breaks forward and has low pediment with oeil-de-boeuf window. Left side elevation of 5 bays has similar sets of sash windows and central part-glazed door to library with pedimented stone surround and approached by low double-armed stone stairs with elliptical-arched window below landing with cast-iron grille. Central 3 bays break forward and have pediment. Right side elevation has flat-arched sash windows, those either end blank and central single-storey link corridor to offices and kitchen court. Attached offices of one storey and attic with hipped slate roofs surround 3 sides of courtyard, the 4th side enclosed by single-storey segmental arms flanking carriage-way. Offices include former kitchen and laundry. Square louvred cupola to range facing garden with gilded ball finial and weathervane. Main range has very deep bracketed eaves to courtyard and 6-pane sash windows. Interior: hall has chequered stone paving with black diamond insets and 3-bay column screen at inner end with Roman Doric columns. Plaster frieze with garlanded paterae. Dining Room has plaster frieze with vine garlands and panels with playing cherubs in low relief. Column screen to inner end wall with Corinthian columns. Central sideboard recess within screen with elliptical-arched head filled with plasterwork fan motif. Library has segmental apse to inner end wall with 2 curved niches, each with pair of fluted columns with capitals based on those of the Tower of the Winds in Athens; open lunettes above entablature and scalloped coves. Fitted bookshelves. Plaster panels above and plaster anthemion frieze. Staircase hall has stone cantilever open well staircase with simple iron balustrade with anthemion and mahogany ramped and wreathed handrail. Original marbled walls and glazed oval dome. Spinal 2-storey corridor to first floor with similar glazed oval dome and internal sash windows lighting attic corridors. Round-arched recesses frame doors to principal bedrooms either side. Seat of the Wakes. (Landscaped Park, by Repton, included in the H.B.M.C. Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest at Grade II.)

{6} Courteenhall (listed grade II*) was built between 1791 and c 1795 to the designs of Samuel Saxon (1757 1831), who had previously worked in the office of Sir William Chambers. Its setting, on the highest site available, at an angle to and 150m north of the then twenty-five-year-old stables, was suggested by Humphry Repton (1752 1818). Of Blisworth Limestone ashlar with Weldon stone dressings, the three-storey house has three fronts of five bays while that to the garden, on the south-east, is of seven. Internally its plan is compact and sophisticated. Attached to the south-west of the house is a service block.

{7} Undated photo;

{8} Courteenhall was built for Sir William Wake between 1791-3, the architect was Sam Saxton, a pupil of Chambers.

{13} [Former list description] II* Courteenhall House (Statutorily listed 23/8/1955)
Courteenhall has unusual interest because the layout of the park was designed by Humphrey Repton before the house was built. The existing mid C.18 stable block, the church and Rectory face each other across a shallow valley and the position of the house at one end of this valley on higher ground is the apex of a triangle marked by buildings at each angle. The informal and very beautiful grouping of trees over the whole area provides varied views from the house and discloses the main elements of the design gradually, opening further views in different directions. The whole design has purpose and balance. According to J.A Gotch Repton settled the position of the house as a principal focus of a composition and suggested Saxon as the architect.
Courteenhall House.
Completed about 1793, Samuel Saxon, architect. A rectangular block of three storeys and basement, ashlar stone, plinth, 1st floor string, dentilled cornice and blocking course, slate roof. South east front has 7 bays, the 3 centre slightly projecting and pedimented with bull's eye window in tympanum. Ground floor windows have architrave surrounds, frieze and cornice and are set in shallow segmental headed recesses with cornice carried across front as string. The 3 centre openings on ground floor have Ionic pilasters in angles of recesses. North west front similar has 5 bays, the 3 centre bays breaking forward slightly. Ground floor windows in similar recesses and cornice string broken forward between bays, cills of windows bracketted. Half glazed central double door, rectangular fanlight with oval glazing pattern, flanked by Doric columns, side lights and Doric pilasters, all in antis and supporting an entablature. The door is approached by 6 stone steps between dwarf stone walls. Return fronts of 5 bays, some windows blocked. Low service wing to W. of house. Illustrated in Country Life, vol. Lxxxvi and in Old Halls and Manor Houses of Northants. By J.A Gotch.

Historic England, Undated, COURTEENHALL HOUSE, COURTEENHALL, BF061860 (Archive). SNN116092.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 5/39 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F10 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Heward J.; Taylor R., 1996, The Country Houses of Northamptonshire, p.145 (unchecked) (Book). SNN41757.

<4> Richardson R., 1810, New Vitruvius Britannicus, Plates 67-70 (unchecked) (Book). SNN107127.

<5> 1939, Country Life (1939), (unchecked) (Journal). SNN59198.

<6> English Heritage, 1991, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1991, Northamptonshire), (checked) (Report). SNN1167.

<7> Photographs of buildings in Courteenhall (Photographs). SNN112099.

<8> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.166 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<9> Mowl T.; Hickman C., 2008, The Historic Gardens of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN106082.

<10> 1878, The Architect, (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107157.

<11> 1986, Country Life (1986), (unchecked) (Journal). SNN71386.

<12> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, (unchecked) (Series). SNN77382.

<13> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, District of Northampton. May 1961 (Report). SNN112993.

Record last edited

Oct 24 2024 11:39AM