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Beedingwood
North Front
From the front drive, Beedingwood is a sad but magnificent sight, in the best tradition of Late Victorian architecture, her architect seems to have applied every adornment, pattern and style in his architectural vocabulary - gables, dormers, bays, bows, mullions, a porte-cochère and the distinctive round room being just a few.
It seems criminal that such an architectural rarity has been allowed to reach this state, but even worse is the fact that even the most spirited attempts to save her have all ended in failure. For Beedingwood, years of putting off the inevitable are now taking their toll as month by month she edges closer to collapse.
L-R: The east gate finds use as a private drive, The north aspect (click to enlarge), The elaborate ceiling of an upstairs hallway balances over the porte-cochère and the porte-cochère itself
L-R: Porte-cochère, Porte-cochère capital, Detail of Gothic trefoil arches and an air brick
L-R: The round room seen in the snow of 2006, A collapsed corridor of unknown purpose runs around the round room, Oriel window and roof of round room and detail of decorative guttering.
Extension
Probably built as kitchen and accommodation block, this austere brown brick extension dates from the 1950s. A van has been abandoned outside ans seems to have had large sections of the adjoining structures collapse on top of it. Architecturally and aesthetically it is unremarkable and so I have taken few pictures.
L-R: The gaping empty windows of the extension, Extension from the south, An abandoned Vauxhall Astra Van, The side of the van and the view from the shed.
Fuel Store, Shed and Greenhouse
To heat the buildings the institute had two large oil tanks installed in a shed which also housed a workshop and storage. Nearby are the remains of a hardwood framed greenhouse, almost entirely engulfed by vegetation.
L-R: Boiler room light switch, Oil level gauge, The oil tanks and a discarded heating timer.
L-R: A collapsing workshop, Paper store, A blue door and the remains of the greenhouse.
South Aspect
This side of the house is more ordered and symmetrical than the front and has more windows to take advantage of the sunlight and views of the gardens which at the end of the terrace stretched southward towards Stonelodge Plain.
L-R: South west view, The south aspect (click to enlarge), Roof and dormer detail and detail of a decorative downpipe
L-R: The tourelle (click to enlarge), Looking op the tourelle, Top of the tourelle, Decorative carvings and figures at the base of the tourelle.
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