Summary
A late-C18 house, built on land owned by the Earls Stanhope, substantially extended in the C19 and early C20, with alterations and further extensions in the late C20 and early C21 for use as a care home.
Reasons for Designation
Stanton Hall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural Interest:
* as a dignified example of a late-Georgian house, aggrandised in the late-C19, it features high-quality materials, detailing and craftsmanship;
* for the high-quality of the surviving interior features, including elegant joinery, plasterwork and stained glass.
Historic Interest:
* as an evolved example of late-Georgian architecture, the building is illustrative of the changing needs, tastes and fortunes of its successive occupiers.
History
By the end of the C18 the manor of Stanton by Dale and Dale Abbey had been acquired by the Earls of Stanhope. Between 1787 and 1794 Charles, 3rd Earl Stanhope, established ironworks in the area to exploit the mineral resources of his estate. Stanton Hall is likely to have been built on the estate in the late-C18 and was occupied by the Earl’s agent, William Woodward by 1794.
When Stanton Hall was advertised to let in 1842 it was described as a ‘comfortable and genteel dwelling house’ which contained dining, drawing and breakfast rooms, with two kitchens and a water closet on the ground floor. The advert also mentions a coach-house for two carriages and stabling for five horses with lofts and a dovecote. The 1844 tithe award notes that the house had out offices with pleasure grounds and an orchard. At this time, it had a roughly square plan with small outbuildings to the west.
In 1846 Stanton Hall was the home of Benjamin Smith, 'Ironmaster', who took a 21-year lease from Earl Stanhope. Smith re-established an ironworks by the Nutbrook Canal, which saw the beginning of the Stanton Ironworks Company. However, he went bankrupt in 1849 and the business was sold. It was taken on by the Crompton family, bankers of Derby and Chesterfield, and successive generations lived at Stanton Hall until 1939. Several changes were made to the building in the intervening years. The interior was remodelled in the mid-C19 and an organ and staircase were added to the main hall around 1880. By 1881 the house had been extended to the south and a projecting bay added to its west side. A conservatory, attributed to Messenger, and a billiard room had been added to the north side of the building by 1900, along with an L-shaped extension to the west and a further projecting bay to the east. By 1914 the building had been further extended to the south.
In 1912 the seventh Earl Stanhope sold his estate to the Stanton Ironworks Company, which was acquired by Stewarts and Lloyds in 1939. In the 1980s Stanton Hall was converted into a nursing home which included the addition of a lift shaft to the west side of the building and a single-storey extension to the south. The stables to the west of the hall were remodelled in the early C21. By the early 2020s the nursing home had closed, and the building was put up for sale. The organ was removed from the main hall around this time.
Details
A late-C18 house, built on land owned by the Earls Stanhope, substantially extended in the C19 and early C20, with alterations and further extensions in the late C20 and early C21 for use as a care home.
MATERIALS: the house is constructed from burnt red and orange brick laid in Flemish bond, with ashlar dressings and slate roof coverings. Windows are predominantly single pane sashes.
PLAN: the irregular plan is composed of a roughly square late-C18 core, with a conservatory and former billiard room extending north and north-east, and a series of three, two and single-storey extensions to the south-west.
EXTERIOR: the late-C18 core is of three bays and three storeys with a basement, and a pitched, valleyed roof. Windows and doors to this part of the building have rusticated stone lintels with prominent keystones. The principal elevation faces north and is topped by a heavy stone cornice and is flanked by jowled pilasters. The three first and second floors are separated by a string course. The central door and flanking French doors at ground floor level have been internalised within a single-storey, lean-to conservatory on a brick plinth across the front of the building. Above the brick plinth, each of the glazed panels is divided into seven panes. The projecting central entrance bay is approached by a short flight of stone steps with a ramped brick balustrade. Above a pair of entrance doors is a glazed pediment featuring decorative wrought ironwork. The conservatory links with a single-storey brick extension to the west, which features a pitched roof behind a parapet. The north elevation features two windows with rusticated lintels to match those of the house. To the west is a truncated end stack and to the south is a single storey canted bay window.
The east side of the late-C18 building features an oversailing crenelated parapet with a dog-toothed eaves course, interrupted by a coped attic gable. Below this is a mid-C19 two-storey bay window, featuring a dog-toothed string course between pairs of sashes to the first floor and French windows below. To the right of the bay window are two further sashes. The west side of the late-C18 building features a parapet to match that of the east side, punctuated by a truncated stack. To the centre is a long, stained glass stair window with arched head. To the right of this, a two storey bay window echoes that to the east side but with segmental arched sashes.
The adjoining mid-to-late C19 ranges to the south are set over two and three storeys and both have hipped roofs. On the east side of the three-storey range is a ground floor bay window with French windows with top lights, chamfered corners and stone mullions. South of this, a recessed bay links to a two-storey, early-C20 range with a crenelated parapet. The east side of both the C19 and early-C20 ranges feature rusticated quoins, plain ashlar lintels, dog tooth string courses between each floor, and a dentil course to the eaves. These details are also carried over to the adjoining late-C20 single-storey range. There is a three storey lift tower dating to the 1980s on the west side of the building. Windows to the west elevation predominantly have segmental brick heads.
INTERIOR: the main entrance leads into the conservatory which has a floor inlaid with decorative ceramic tiles. The glazed roof is supported by two cast iron posts set on plinths with scalloped surrounds. These support ornamental cast iron brackets, which are also present between each of the glazed window bays. The conservatory links with the former billiard room, which features decorative trusses with arch detailing. The conservatory leads through to an interior hall containing a corniced ceiling divided by moulded beams, some of which are panelled. A timber staircase with half-landing, of possible late-C19 date, features carved newel posts and splat balusters supporting a handrail above a half-panelled banister.
The hallway leads to a series of principal rooms on the east side of the house, each with a doorway to the next, including one with a pilastered surround with ionic scrolled capitals. Elsewhere on the ground floor the window and door surrounds feature moulded architraves and panelled surrounds. There are ornate ceiling roses to the principal spaces. The southernmost of the three principal east rooms has a textured hexagonal ceiling finish and a notched dado rail. This room features a bay window with stained glass top lights. Chimney pieces have been removed throughout, though a detached surround with a deep cornice and geometric carving survives to the ground floor. Within the corridor south of the main hallway a winder staircase with turned newel posts and plain balusters ascends to the first and second floors.
The ground and first floor corridors feature arched thresholds, including an entryway with a stained-glass top light. There are deep door architraves and encased ceiling beams with cornices to the north first-floor rooms. Many of the first-floor rooms feature moulded joinery, including cornicing and picture rails. The southernmost room in the early-C20 range has decorative plasterwork to the ceiling and above the picture rail. A fireplace survives to the room next to this. There is evidence of partition walls and other adaptations during the late-C20.
