Building record 0181602000 - GREENLANDS

Grade II+. Mansion, now college. Circa 1810, for Thomas Darby-Coventry. Extended 1853 for Edward Marjoribanks, and 1871 for W H Smith. Further alterations to W front 1936-38 by P Geddes Hyslop. Whitewashed render, slate roofs concealed by parapets. S front: 2 storeys, 5 bays, the 3 centre bays of 1810, the outer bays of 1853. Mid C19 modillion cornice and balustraded parapet to all bays. Mid C19 banded quoins. Centre bay has tripartite sash with architrave surround and cornice to first floor, and early C19 entrance portico with 4 Ionic columns and entablature. Capitals have festoons. Flanking bays are slightly advanced and have bowed projections . 4-light French doors to ground floor, tripartite sashes to first floor, all with architrave surrounds and cornices. Outer bays have 2-storey canted bay windows with pilasters, entablatures and 3-pane sashes. Single-storey whitewashed brick extension to right, formerly an orangery but now a dining hall, with late C19 2-storey service wing behind. Service wing has sash windows with shouldered surrounds, and formerly had 3-storey tower at angle with main block. Small tower with blind arcade of 3 Romanesque arches and steep pyramid roof to right side of rear service blocks. W front has 6 bays of sashes, and 2 centre bays slightly recessed with entrance in Doric patico, probably C20. Another wing and C20 extensions set back to left. Interior: entrance hall has distyle in antis Ionic screen of paired columns, dentil cornice and pedimented doorcases. Early C19 open string stair with decorative wrought-iron balusters, wreathed mahogany handrail and panelled dado to garden hall. Rooms retain mid C19 plasterwork and C18 style fireplaces. Of particular interest, are the early C20 Old Library designed and executed by William Morris & Co for the Hon. W F D Smith, MP. Fitted oak panelling, shelves and glazed cupboards with carved cornice and arcaded shelf above which a deep plasterwork frieze to the square-coffered ceiling. Green marble chimneypiece with bracketed oak mantle and carved lugged frame overmantle. Fine copper Art Nouveau wall and ceiling light fittings and bell pulls and door furniture with monograms to panelled oak double leaf doors. The Old Library is illustrated in Hints on House Furnishing, 1909 by W Shaw Sparrow. Also, the Garden common room decorated with hand-painted wallpaper. Probably c1870's by Italian craftsmen for W H Smith and rediscovered August 1991. Large panels of fine foliate and florinate framework decoration alternate with narrower panels having more ornate arabesque designs composed of florinate, foliate, vases and animal designs; also ovals, originally containing marouflaged panels of classical figures. C18 style ceiling with evidence of hand-painting under current paint. Former bathroom tiled to full height with fine patterned glazed tiles, depicting on the dado fantastic fish in a 4 tile repeat pattern (B5).
Essentially an early Victorian mansion in sumptuous Italianate style with a square tower (B6).