Building record MDR24194 - No. 29 Temple Road, Buxton

No. 29 Temple Road, Buxton, built c1907. The building was considered for adding to the National Heritage List for England in 2024 but was rejected. The report on the building and the reasons for its rejection is available. (1) 'HISTORY AND DETAILS Temple Road in Buxton developed around the turn of the C20 to the north-west of Buxton College. Among the earliest houses to be built on this road was Brantwood, which was constructed around 1907-1909. It was built for Mary and Sarah Taylor of Nottingham on land purchased from the Duke of Devonshire. The house was individually designed by Charles Swain, a prolific architect from Manchester whose early commissions were principally in and around Buxton. A single-storey rear extension was added to the south elevation in 1992. In 2008 the house was reroofed, attic dormers were added, and the garage was relocated to the east. Brantwood’s Arts and Crafts influenced design combines local gritstone embellished with timber framing in an irregular composition set over two storeys with an attic. The roof is a combination of hipped and gabled forms with exposed rafter feet and features C21 dormers with cambered heads. The principal, north elevation features a central, double-height bow window, with stained and leaded light, surmounted by a jettied gable on exaggerated corbel brackets. To the east is a veranda below an external chimney stack, while the ground floor window to the west features a four-light window with stone mullions and transoms, and a further four-light window above. The west elevation features slit windows to both floors, including a canted corner bay beneath the partially jettied first floor. To the south of this is a single-storey glazed conservatory. The south elevation features a projecting gable on three enlarged corbels above two canted oriel windows with glazing bars to the top lights. To the ground floor below is a glazed veranda. To the central bay is a single-storey bowed window with a conical roof and stained glass top-lights, and a four-light window above. The first floor of the easternmost bay features two triangular oriel windows. Below is a part glazed timber door with top light and a two-light casement with glazing bars within a segmental arched opening. The east elevation features a three-storey bay breaking through eaves level. A garage with timbered gables is attached to the east side with a single-storey linking range. A timber front door with leaded stained glass leads into a double height hallway which features timber panelling and a staircase with twisted balusters and carved newel posts, which rises to a half landing at the first floor. The hallway and principal rooms feature decorative plasterwork to the ceiling and walls. Moulded joinery survives to windows, doors and surrounds, including a mirrored mantelpiece to the front room. ASSESSMENT The Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings (DCMS, November 2018) sets out the statutory criteria for designation explaining that, to be added to the List, buildings must be of special architectural and historic interest, and that progressively greater selection is required when assessing buildings dating from 1850 to 1945. Historic England’s Listing Selection Guides for Domestic 3: Suburban and Country Houses (December 2017) provides further considerations relevant to the assessment of this building type. Judged against the criteria, the considerations in our supplementary guidance and the information available, Brantwood is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons: Degree of Architectural interest: * though the scale and design of the house is ambitious, with striking features including jettied gables and a double height bowed window, the design lacks the finesse of the best houses of this style and period; * despite the survival of interior detailing to principal spaces, such as stained glass and moulded joinery and plasterwork, the quality of this treatment is variable and does not sufficiently raise the interest to meet the high threshold required for listing. Degree of Historic interest: * while Brantwood is of good local interest as an individually commissioned and architect-designed house forming part of the development of Temple Road, this does not compensate for the shortfall in its architectural merit. CONCLUSION While Brantwood is of clear local interest, it falls just short of the standard required to list a building of this type and period in the national context. SOURCES Mel Morris Conservation for High Peak Borough Council, ‘Buxton Conservation Areas Character Appraisal’, April 2007, Appendix 1, accessed 18 April 2024 from https://www.highpeak.gov.uk/media/221/Appendices-and-historical-phasing-plans/pdf/HP_CAA_Appendices_and_Historical_Phasing_Plans.pdf Architects of Greater Manchester entry for Charles Swain, accessed 18 April 2024 from https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/architects/charles-swain Ordnance Survey map (1:2500) 1922 edition.' (1)