Building record 3320/3/16 - Archway House or Birmingham Houses & Attached Walls

Greenhouses and garden feature. C.1873 by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt. The cast iron frame by Clarke and Hope of Birmingham 1868. Limestone ashlar, cast-iron and glass; lead and glass roofs.

{1} Greenhouses and garden feature. C.1873 by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt. The cast iron frame by Clarke and Hope of Birmingham 1868. Limestone ashlar, cast-iron and glass; lead and glass roofs. Pair of rectangular greenhouses flanking triumphal arch. Italianate style. Tall central triumphal arch, round-headed with keyblock, and supported by Corinthian columns with full entablature. Panelled piers either side and flanking arch; plain frieze and moulded cornice. Lower greenhouse wings have 4-bay loggias to north, facing Palm House (q.v.), separated from greenhouses by spine walls, and with round-arched arcades. Greenhouses each have 6 glazed bays to south with pilasters to piers, 3 bays deep, with similar glazing to sides and central double-leaf glazed doors; balustraded parapets. East loggia has external stone spiral staircase to east end giving access to lead roofs. Both wings have attached walls separating loggias from greenhouse sides, that to west pierced by round-headed archways. Interior: triple-span glazed roofs to greenhouse supported by circular cast-iron columns with lotus capitals. Triumphal arch stands on central axis of Italian Garden. (Castle Ashby park and gardens are included in HBMC Register of Parks and Gardens for Northamptonshire at Grade I) (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, p145)

{4} Straddling the axial path of The Italian Garden, on the south side of a brick wall at the south end of the main garden, are the 1868 Birmingham Houses (listed grade II), built by Clarke & Hope; Archway House, designed by M D Wyatt and of nine, limestone ashlar bays with a raised central arch, was added against the north side of the wall in 1875-6.

{5} Undated photo;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 6/32 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F12 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.145 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> English Heritage, 1994, Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (1994, Northamptonshire), (unchecked) (Report). SNN1324.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Castle Ashby (Photographs). SNN111838.

Record last edited

Aug 4 2021 4:02PM