PLANNING (LISTED BUILDINGS AND CONSERVATION AREAS) ACT 1990 JUSTIFICATION STATEMENT FOR LISTED BUILDING CONSENT APPLICATIONS FOR MINOR ALTERATIONS At STOKE HALL Grindleford On behalf of Mr and Mrs S. Drury August 2010 DAVID LEWIS ASSOCIATES Chartered Architects Conservation and Historic Building Specialists Delf View House Church Street Eyam Derbyshire S32 5QH Tel: 01433 630030 Fax: 01433 631972 CONTENTS: 1. INTRODUCTION 2. BACKGROUND 3. THE HISTORY OF STOKE HALL 4. THE EXISTING HOUSE Description Consideration and Evaluation of the Existing House with Observation and Analyses of how Stoke Hall has Changed over Time. 5. CONTEXTUAL CONSIDERATION OF CHANGES AT STOKE HALL 6. CONSIDERATION OF THE LISTED BUILDING CONSENT APPLICATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE LISTED BUILDING. 7. CONCLUSION APPENDICES Appendix 1 Site Location Plan Appendix 2 List Description Appendix 3 Photographs which are undated but clothes and furniture suggest the very early C20 Appendix 4 1880 OS Plan Appendix 5 Plans of Stoke Hall as an Hotel 1978 Appendix 6 Plans of Stoke Hall prior to its conversion as a single dwelling dated 2003. Appendix 7 Plans of Stoke Hall extracted from the Sales brochure of 2008. Photographs Nos. 1 - 75 2 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Personal Details 1.1.1. My name is David Wyn Lewis. I have an Honours Degree from Sheffield University (1969) and became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1971. I have an M.A. in Architectural Building Conservation. I have been the Senior Partner of David Lewis Associates since the Practice was established in 1978. The Practice specialises in the Conservation of Historic Buildings. 1.1.2. My career has been substantially involved with the conservation and restoration of listed and historic buildings, their alteration and careful extension to accommodate new uses and modern needs, besides the design of new buildings to fit comfortably into historic locations. 1.1.3. I provide an expert consultancy service related to Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings and the design of new buildings in historic contexts. I advise and guide both architects and developers on the design of buildings associated with Listed Buildings and Conservation Area, evaluate and comment on proposals as they develop and when I am content with the final design prepare a Justification Statement to accompany Listed Building and Conservation Area Consent Applications. I assist in positive liaison with Planning and Conservation Officers. I also have considerable experience as an Expert Witness evaluating issues associated with proposals related to Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas and the preparation and presentation of Proofs of Evidence for Planning Appeals and Public Inquiries. 1.1.4. I am personally appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to the Panel of Architects serving and advising the Royal Household. Clients have included Sir Richard FitzHerbert at Tissington Hall, South Derbyshire (Jacobean Grade II*), the Leghs at Adlington Hall, Cheshire (building 1475-1720 Grade I), Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Richards at Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire (1530 Grade I), Lord and Lady Grey of Codnor at High Legh House, The National Trust, The Devonshire Maintenance Fund 3 (Chatsworth), Great Portland Estates (London) and the Diocese of Derby. I have recently completed twelve years as a founder Trustee and Architectural adviser to the Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust whose buildings include the Mappin Art Gallery (1820) and Bishops House (1474), The Graves Art Gallery (1930) and the Millennium Galleries (2000) 1.1.5. Expert Consultancy and Expert Witness Clients have included George Wimpey UK Ltd, John Laing Ltd, Taylor Wimpey UK , St Modwen, Asda, CDC 2020 PLC, Peel Holdings, Modus, Choice Hotels, Melton Mowbray Borough Council, and Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council, amongst many others. 4 2.0.0 BACKGROUND 2.1.0 Introduction 2.1.1 Stoke Hall is Located in Grindleford, Derbyshire. (Appendix 1: Site Location Plan) It comprises a substantial country house and is Listed Grade II*. (Appendix 2: Statutory Listing Text) The principal block of the existing house dates from the mid eighteenth century. However, visual evidence reveals that the east range and the north service wing, which were extended in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, incorporate parts of the earlier Stoke Hall which according to unsupported local history notes, was damaged by fire. There are a number of further nineteenth century additions but the house very much retains its distinctive Georgian character. 2.1.2 By 1973 the house had deteriorated and was in poor condition. It was then bought and converted into a hotel and restaurant, and a degree of conservation work was undertaken, although the roofs continued to leak. By the early 1980s, the hotel was evidently struggling and its condition deteriorating. It was purchased in 1983 by Richard Jowitt and substantial alterations and conservation work occurred during the 1980s and 1990s, including the replacement of most windows and re-roofing of the main block. Sadly Mr Jowitt died in 2007 leaving a substantial challenge to complete the restoration work especially to the interiors of several rooms in the main block, and to the east and northern wings. 2.1.3 When purchased by the present owners, Mr and Mrs Drury, in 2009 substantial areas of roof were missing from the north and east wings, where the structure and interiors had been protected for some twenty years only by tarpaulins. Water penetration had clearly been an ongoing problem and extensive dry rot was found. An extensive programme of essential and desirable conservation work was commenced throughout the hall and a considerable amount has already been completed whilst the remainder is progressing well. 5 2.2.0 The Current Listed Building Consent Applications 2.2.1 The first Listed building Consent Application is retrospective and relates to the provision and installation of appropriately scaled and proportioned „St Aubin” limestone paving slabs in what was the breakfast room prior to the purchase of Stoke Hall by Mr. and Mrs. Drury in 2009, a room which is now intended to be the family sitting room. Poor quality and inappropriate concrete paving slabs had been removed and the limestone paving installed in November 2009 order to give the new owner‟s, and their young family, one comfortably habitable room in which to enjoy Christmas. This was observed on 15th February 2010 by John Sewell and David O‟Connor of the Peak District National Park Authority. Mr O‟Connor subsequently wrote on 11th March 2010 to advise that it will be necessary to submit a Listed Building Consent Application bearing in mind that the property is Listed Grade II* whilst expressing an informal view that the modern, precise, light coloured finish of the tile appears at odds with the character and status of this section of the house. An application was required within a month of the date of the letter but a three month period was subsequently accepted. 2.2.2 The second Listed Building Consent Application is also retrospective and also relates to the former breakfast room where plaster has not been reinstated around the fireplace on the north wall. Mr. O‟Connor in the same letter advised that should the intention be to leave the bare stonework in situ, it will be necessary to submit a formal Listed Building Application. The current Application is because my client does wish to leave the bare stonework exposed as presently existing. 2.2.3 The third Listed Building Consent Application relates to the Victorian service staircase alongside the north wall of the kitchen. The stone built stairway 6 enclosure and the service stairway was clearly built opening directly off the service corridors at ground and first floor levels built during the nineteenth century as an addition to the earlier nineteenth century service extensions to the north wing at Stoke Hall. As will be described in section 6.3, it is evident that the original service stair included a top riser that formed a short dogleg onto the first floor landing followed be winders leading to what must have been a straight flight down to the ground floor. The stair itself had clearly subsequently been reconfigured to remove the single step dogleg on the top landing, leaving two closely spaced newel posts one of which is partly buried within the raised floor level on the first floor landing where the top step has been infilled. During the currently ongoing conservation work at Stoke Hall, most of the staircase comprising a straight flight with winders top and bottom has been removed owing to extensive dry rot which was the result of water penetration through the tarpaulin roof which had been present for approximately twenty years. The east wing and the north wing have now been properly and appropriately roofed as part of the ongoing conservation programme, and dry rot has been treated necessitating the removal of plaster which has exposed the main fabric and the stages of construction. As described in more detail in section 6.3, the work has revealed that the thin spine wall built alongside the lower flight of the now removed staircase is built from brick in an otherwise sturdily constructed stone building. The apertures from the corridor to the stairway at both ground and first floor levels, which were the full width of the staircase enclosure, are also infilled with brick but including a fire door. The still existing handrail to the first floor landing clearly dates from the 1960s or 70s and comprises a wholly inappropriate “balustrade” with square, soft wood vertical posts at wide intervals spanned mid height by a single horizontal rectangular rail and a crudely detailed handrail. This totally contravenes any safety requirements and especially where the landing is accessible to young children.