Greathed Manor

Greathed Manor
"An extreme example of a justly neglected type"[1]
Type House
Location Dormansland, Surrey
Coordinates 51°09′42″N 0°01′10″E / 51.1616°N 0.0194°E / 51.1616; 0.0194Coordinates: 51°09′42″N 0°01′10″E / 51.1616°N 0.0194°E / 51.1616; 0.0194
Built 1862-8
Architect Robert Kerr
Architectural style(s) Gothic Revival
Governing body Privately owned
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: Greathed Manor
Designated 25 April 1984
Reference no. 1377578
Location of Greathed Manor in Surrey

Greathed Manor, Dormansland, Surrey, is a Victorian country house. It was designed in 1862-8 by the architect Robert Kerr. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

Greathed Manor, originally called Ford Manor, was designed by Robert Kerr for the Clay family.[2] The actress Joyce Grenfell was a descendant and lived at the manor as a child.[2] By 1960, when the house was renamed Greathed Manor, it was owned by the Country Houses Association.[2] Following the collapse of the CHA, it became a private nursing home.[3]

Architecture

Kerr was an influential mid-Victorian architect who wrote The Gentleman's House - Or, How To Plan English Residences, From The Parsonage To The Palace, published in 1864.[4] Kerr's influence was greater than his talent; the architectural critic Ian Nairn described Greathed as; "over-confident, making no concessions to the landscape or anything else, and without any (...) artistic sincerity".[1] The architectural historian Mark Girouard was no more complimentary, describing the house as "appalling"[5] and Kerr's most significant work, Bearwood House, as of a "design (.) as heavyweight as (its) technology".[6]

The manor is of stone, and mainly of three storeys.[2] Until renovations in 1912, the building had a large porte-cochère at the front, and a winter garden at the rear.[2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Nairn, Pevsner & Cherry 1971, p. 266.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 England, Historic. "GREATHED MANOR, Dormansland - 1000272- Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  3. ↑ Choices, N. H. S. "Contact details, map and directions - Greathed Manor Nursing Home - NHS Choices".
  4. ↑ Kerr 2012, p. frontispiece.
  5. ↑ Girouard 1979, p. 271.
  6. ↑ Girouard 1979, p. 269.

References

  • Girouard, Mark (1979). The Victorian Country House. New Haven, US: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300023909.
  • Kerr, Robert (2012). The Gentleman's House. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-04484-4.
  • Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (1971). Surrey. The Buildings of England. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-300-09675-5.
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