Summary
A house dating from the C18 with a C19 rear range of former outbuildings and late-C20 and early-C21alterations.
Reasons for Designation
Sandhurst House, 14 High Street in Chard, a C18 building with an early C19 rear addition, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the symmetrical and balanced design of the principal façade displays good-quality craftsmanship, despite the loss of historic fenestration to the principal elevation;
* Group value: it contributes to the local streetscape and forms a grouping with other listed buildings in the locality which together demonstrate the development of Chard in the C18 and C19
History
Sandhurst House, 14 High Street, Chard is situated on the north side of one of the principal routes through the town; the eastern half of this road is known as Fore Street. This west-east route which lies to the north of the Saxon nucleus of Chard is an area that has been continuously redeveloped since the medieval period. Sandhurst House is an C18 building which appears to be located within a former medieval burgage plot, while many of the buildings in the immediate vicinity date from the C17. The house appears to have undergone some refurbishment in the late C18 or early C19 when the windows and door to the roadside frontage were renewed. A range of outbuildings were also added to the rear in the C19. The footprint of the house has not altered since it was depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888, although some of the attached outbuildings to the rear which are depicted on this map and the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903 have since been demolished.
In the late C20 Sandhurst House and the adjacent No. 16 were converted to a residential home; connecting doorways were inserted at ground and first floors between the two buildings, and an elevator was installed within the rear part of No. 14. Since the early C21 Sandhurst House has reverted to a single dwelling and is currently (2012) undergoing renovation.
Details
MATERIALS: it is constructed of limestone rubble with stucco to the front (south) elevation and painted render to the rear; the rear range is brick. The roof is clad in slate, said to have formerly been thatched, with stepped stone coping to the right-hand (east) gable and brick stacks to the gable ends. The single-storey part of the rear range is clad with C20 concrete double Roman tiles.
PLAN: a house of two-storeys with an attic. It has a double-depth plan with a through passage, though the two rear rooms are now a single room. The rear range, formerly outbuildings, was added in the C19 and has since been incorporated into the house.
EXTERIOR: the principal (south) elevation faces onto the roadside. The entrance is slightly to the left of centre, accessed via a shallow step. It has a projecting porch with a moulded Hamstone cornice, latterly supported by square wooden columns; at the time of inspection (2012) the porch had been removed for repairs. The door has six panels with glazing to the two upper panels, and timber panelling to either side of the entrance and above the door. It is flanked by early-C21 eight/eight-pane sash windows set in square-headed architraves with stone sills, and there are two further replacement sash windows to the first floor. The rear elevation is more vernacular in character. It has a pair of French doors with marginal glazing, to the right of which is a rear entrance with half-glazed, panelled door and an inserted single-light window. To the first floor is a C18 three-light window with leaded panes to the right-hand casement. A metal staircase (fire escape) has been added in the late C20. The ground floor of the C19 range has a half-glazed door which is flanked by two-light casements; all are early-C21 replacements, while there are no openings to the first floor. The lower, northern section of the range has a three-light window with vertical bars, and a doorway to the right.
INTERIOR: is much altered but is undergoing restoration (2012). The right-hand reception room is entered through a C19 a quadripartite folding door within a semi-circular headed opening. There is a deep, round-headed alcove with moulded architrave to either side of the chimney breast and some of the timber panelling to the window recess also survives. Many of the fireplaces have been re-instated, albeit with new surrounds, and new staircases to the first floor and to the attic have been installed. The historic roof timbers survive, comprising principal trusses with tie-beams, though the tie-beam to the left-hand truss has been removed. The north half of the roof has four trenched purlins and there are two rows of purlins to the south side. Many of the rafters also survive, although there has been some strengthening with the introduction of further timbers.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: there are cast-iron railings to the front of the house and to either side of the entrance.
