Building record 0188801000 - WESTHORPE HOUSE

House & attached service wing built for James Chase, MP for Marlow. Altered early C19. Colourwashed render over brick, the front of concealed vitreous headers with red dressings. 7 bays & 3 storeys & service wing. Balustrade & porch of 4 unfluted ionic columns, each with its own piece of projecting entablature, C19 (B1, B3).
Grade II. House and attached service Wing. Early C18, for James Chase, M.P. for Marlow (d. 1721). Altered early C19. Colourwashed render over brick, the front of concealed vitreous headers with red dressings. Hipped roof covered with plastic sheeting, formerly slated. Red and vitreous brick chimneys. 3 storeys and attic, 7 bays. Short plinth, first floor band course, shallow moulded cornice with balustraded parapet. Outer bays are more widely spaced and have flanking pilaster strips. Early C19 sash windows with narrow glazing bars, 2-panes wide on ground floor, 3-pane above. Most lower windows boarded up. Central early C19 stone porch in form of 3-bay arcaded portico with entablature broken forwards over Ionic columns. Arches glazed and boarded. Right end has early C19 single-storey bowed projection with moulded cornice and 3 bays of French windows with blind boxes. Blind boxes to ground floor rear windows. Service wing attached to rear left corner is of brick, colourwashed to N.E., with hipped tile roof and parapet over band course. 2 storeys, 7 bays, the 3 centre bays slightly advanced with ground floor part altered to 2 garage entries. Other window openings are original and have slightly cambered heads, the upper windows with C20 paired metal casements. Interior has early C18 open-well 2-storey staircase, in derelict condition, with twisted balusters, fluted Corinthian column newels, moulded handrail and carved scroll tread ends. Small semi- circular balustraded projections to landings, Dado panelling probably later. Service stairs between upper floors in E. corner have splat balusters; early C18 staircase with turned balusters in service wing. Interior otherwise stripped, the first floor retaining a very little early C18 panelling, the ground floor remodelled early C19 (B2).
The building was constructed in the early part of the 18th century, possibly from 1715 to 1721, and was constructed for the apothecary and MP James Chase. The earliest phase consisted of the Old House a 3 ½ storey structure, and the service range, a 2 storey building. These had alterations in the 19th century. In the 1980s a south range was added to the building, which is considered to have very little architectural merit. The historic building was substantially damaged in the 1980s, when the interior of the building was significantly gutted with most of the original features removed. There are no fireplaces, moulding is probably new, and the doors are mainly new. The windows and shutters may contain some original or 19th century components. The main staircase has also been replaced. The main range of the building contains the remains of the original front façade that is in a Classical Georgian style. This façade contains 7 bays, with the 5 central bays being grouped and the outer bays at either end being spaced outside a decorative pilaster strips (B6).