Site Event/Activity record ECH4733 - Mossley House, Congleton - Assessment for Listing

English Heritage (Listing) Advice Report MOSSLEY HOUSE, BIDDULPH ROAD, CONGLETON Parish CONGLETON District CONGLETON County CHESHIRE Case UiD: 168716 RECOMMENDATION Adviser: Mr K Robinson Outcome: No, do not list Recommended Grade: NL 23-JUL-2009 Advice Text: After examining all the papers on this file and other relevant information and having carefully considered the architectural and historic interest of this case, the criteria for listing are not fulfilled. CONTEXT A planning application (ref: 0911 127C) for the demolition of Mossley House, including its attached cottages and barn, and the subsequent redevelopment of the land has been submitted. A lodge at the entrance from Biddulph Road is excluded from the planning application. This application is reportedly most likely to go before the committee on 5 August 2009. A previous application for the building's demolition was refused in August 2008. Due to the urgency of this case this advice has been prepared using the available information on file, which includes reports and photographs taken from internal and external inspections undertaken by Roger Wools & Associates, Heritage Consultants, in August 2007, T Mallinson and C Malam of Hodkinson Mallinson, Chartered Building Surveyors, in November 2007, and external photographs provided by the applicant in July 2009. Other on file comments to have been consulted include those by Michael Scammell, Conservation Officer for Cheshire East Council, those by JGS 4-6-2009 entitled 'Mossley House, Congleton: Proposed Elderly Care Accommodation Urban Design Observations on Planning Application Drawings', and the Planning Committee Report for application No. 08/0552/Ful. HISTORY Mossley House originated as a C18 farm cottage that developed into a substantial Victorian building due to the addition of later structures during the C19. It now comprises a house, attached earlier cottages and barn. The building appears on the 1st edition Cheshire Ordnance Survey map of 1873 with largely the same footprint as present. However, the current Mossley House is thought to have been built for the Shappel family in the late C19 eariy C20 and was renovated extensively during the 1920s with the loss of much internal detailing. The cottages too have been altered internally and externally with the loss of all but two of their original windows. The barn has been reroofed and altered with removal of the hayloft, blocking of a large end gable opening, and the rebuilding of most other openings to a flat-topped design rather than the original segmental arch. Two extensions have been added to infill the former recess between Mossley House's east elevation and the cottages. A lean-to greenhouse has been added to the barn's east elevation. DESCRIPTION Mossley House is a late C19/early C20 suburban villa with attached earlier cottages and a barn. Its architect is unknown. The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings beneath roofs of slate and clay tiles. The elongated building complex is of two, two and a half and three storeys with attics and is linear in plan with the main house lying at the south end, cottages adjacent and a barn at the north end. Exterior: The front (south) elevation of Mossley House is of three bays and two storeys. It has a projecting gable porch that encapsulates the central front door entrance. The gable is carried above the eaves and is topped by a stone finial above a stone shield. There is a fanlight above the door. Casement windows have three over three panes to the ground floor and two over two panes to the upper floor with hoodmoulds above. The left (west) elevation has three bays to the main house with windows and hoodmoulds matching those on the front elevation. The right bay is a gable with an attic roof topped by a chimney stack. The central bay comprises a flat-roofed ltalianate tower of three storeys that projects forward and has chamfered string courses at first and second floor level. It is topped by a balustrade. The left bay is of two storeys with a flat roof. The remainder of the left elevation consists of attached two-storey cottages and barn. The cottages are of four bays with an entrance and porch to the right and a double garage door entrance to the left. Windows are casement apart from one earlier sash. The barn has four double timber doors with only that to the left having its original segmental arch. The upper floor has six roundel openings to the former hayloft. There is a later addition to the north end of the barn that housed a substantial but now infilled door. Two timber doors to the gable are later additions. Mossley House's right (east) elevation is of two bays. The left bay is a gable with a two-storey canted bay window finished with a pediment, above which is an attic window and chimney stack. The right bay has a crow-stepped gable pediment that is set back slightly from the left gable. It has a French window beneath a moulded lintel to the right and modest rectangular windows elsewhere. The remainder of the right elevation consists of a single-storey flat-roofed crenellated extension to one of the cottages to which a later single-storey glass and timber extension has also been added. Windows to the cottages are casement with one earlier sash. A greenhouse extension has been added to the barn's east side. Interior: Mossley House is of two storeys with a cellar and attic. The suspended timber floor above the cellar has been subjected to relatively recent reconstruction. Internal features such as doors and surrounds, skirting, pelmets and coving are of modest design and there is evidence that some fire grates and surrounds have been replaced. The cottages have been altered internally with the loss of all but two original sash windows. The barn has had its hay loft removed and has been re-roofed with the replacement of rafters and battens. ASSESSMENT From the mid-C17 onwards and particularly during the C19 the ideal of living within reach of a town or city, while enjoying the amenities of the countryside, became more attainable and a new sort of house, the villa, emerged. Set in their own grounds, villas were often designed in the vanguard of taste, with Neoclassical, Gothick, Picturesque and ltalianate being the preferred styles. Layouts varied considerably and interiors could be opulent with rich plasterwork, chimneypieces and internal decoration. Principles of selection will vary, depending on the age of the building, and substantially intact examples of pre-1840 date will warrant serious consideration for designation. Given the greater number of survivals of post-1840 villas, greater selectivity will be required and a greater degree of special interest will be looked for. Additional factors will include materials and construction, quality of interiors, and contribution to, and quality of, the development of which it forms a part. Mossley House is a late Victorian suburban villa with attached earlier cottages and a barn. While the ltalianate tower on its west elevation is its principal architectural feature, the remainder of the villa is of less architectural interest. It possesses a relatively plain front elevation and an eclectic east elevation that displays uncomfortable later extensions infilling the former recess between the villa and the attached cottages. All materials employed in the building's construction appear to have been used in a conservative fashion with little exuberance or individualism apparent. Internally the villa would appear to be particularly modest with little surviving period detail associated with the opulence commonly found in villas of this period. The attached earlier cottages and barn have each undergone internal and external alteration, and whilst the barn still retains a pleasing array of six roundel openings to its former hay loft, these buildings are also of modest architectural pretension. Mossley House is an evolved building that exhibits some architectural detail of merit, particularly the tower. However, the overall form of the structure is not entirely successful and certain elements, particularly some fenestration on the east gable and later extensions to the east elevation, appear ill-considered and clumsy. The building does not retain significant early features, with the interiors showing C20 refurbuishment. As such it does not meet the criteria for listing, but is clearly of local interest. SOURCES Ordnance Survey First Edition Map, 1873. Hodkinson Mallinson Chartered Building Surveyors, Schedule of Condition of Mossley House, December 2007. MHA Care Group, Design and Access Statement, Mossley House, Congleton. April 2009. Wools, Roger, Letter dated 24 June 2009 to the Planning Officer, Cheshire East Council. JGS, June 2009, Mossley House, Congleton: Proposed Elderly Care Accommodation Urban Design Observations on Planning Application Drawings. Scammell, Michael, Mossley House, Biddulph Road, Congleton. Conclusion: Mossley House and its associated cottages and barn do not meet the criteria for listing as a building of special architectural or historic interest in a national context. Reasons For Designation Decision: Mossley House and its associated cottages and barn is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons: * The house is of a relatively modest architectural composition with the only feature of note being an ltalianate tower on the west elevation * Piecemeal additions to the building's east elevation are not in keeping with the building's original character * The house possesses a modest interior with little evidence of significant architectural decor relating to its period of construction * The attached cottages and barn have been altered both internally and externally and retain few surviving original features. VISITS None: Data from other sources Urgency of case meant a site visit could not be arranged within the required time. Assessment is based on a substantial amount of written and photographic information supplied. COUNTERSlGNiNG First Countersigning Adviser: Mr N Bridgland Comments: Agreed: Mossley House does not retain the level of architectural or historic interest which would merit designation in the national context. NFB 04.08.2009