Building record 1071000000 - AKELEY WOOD SCHOOL

Grade II. Former country house, now school. 1860's by G. Devey for Charles Pilgrim. Extended 1911-12 by Sir Ernest George for Captain Robert K. Price. Adapted for use as school 1946 by Lionel Brett. Plinth and some ground floor walls of ironstone, half-timbered above with whitewashed roughcast infill. Tiled roof, bargeboards with finials and carved brackets to base. Ironstone chimney stacks with square shafts set diagonally. Original L-plan Tudor 'cottage' with main wing facing S., service wing and porch facing E. 1911 additions in similar style comprise: block at S.E. corner with billiard room to ground floor and projection for passage in angle with E. front; chauffeur's accommodation at N. end of service wing; new dining room and service wing adjoining N.W. corner of main block, and water tower in courtyard. Two storeys and attics. Irregular facades with gabled projections and small gables over first floor windows. Gable ends have elaborate timber patterning remainder close studded. Some sections of first floor are jettied. Mullion windows, some transomed, shallow oriels on carved brackets to first floor, some canted bay windows to ground floor. E. front has gabled porch with L-plan passage to front door: timber arcade with segmental arches, four centred arch to porch has carved foliage in spandrels and key block with initials 'AI'. S. and W. fronts originally had lean-to verandahs. Interior: wooden ribs to ceilings, moulded and carved doorcases, Gothick panelling in hall, staircase with square balusters renewed 1912 (B1).