Building record 1245705000 - ELMODESHAM HOUSE, 42 HIGH STREET

Grade II+. Early C18, purple-red brick with light red dressings chamfered quoins. Old tile roof with parapet above moulded dentil cornice. Three storeys, moulded brick floor bands. Eleven bays, the central two slightly recessed, containing 6-panel door with sidelights, in fielded panelled reveals, with four Roman Doric pilasters supporting entablature with triglyphs. Double hung sash windows with glat gauged arches and wood cills, five bays on left of centre, the four on right not original. Rear elevation: tall staircase window and triple arched rear door with sidelights. Modern extensions. Interior: original panelling and staircase (B1).
Buildings report dated March 1990 held in NMR (B2).
Detailed building recording carried out by John Trench and Pauline Fenley in 1986-7 during conversion into flats, suggests that Elmodesham House was built about 1710. The staircase paintings on walls and ceiling, in the style of Sir James Thornhill, were probably added in the 1730s, when the present staircase was built. Later, after 1747, the present entrance hall was built in the space formerly occupied by a carriage entry. The improvements were carried out by Isaac Eeles, who succeeded the original builder, his uncle, Charles Eeles. After Isaac's death his son, another Isaac, sold the house. It was sold to a doctor, James Rumsey, and by Rumsey's heirs let to Benjamin West, a dissenting minister who ran a highly successful school in the house. His son moved 'The Academy' to Caversham near Reading in 1862, and thereafter the house was occupied by a succession of private owners until it was bought by the then Amersham Rural District Council for its offices in 1931. It is now [1987] divided into flats (B3).
The Academy was opened in 1829 by baptist minister Rev Ebenezer West. It was moved from the Manse at Chenies and became so popular it took over some of the houses on the patheway to the Baptist Chapel as additional boarding accommodation. (B4).