Hoole Hall

Hoole Hall, Chester

Hoole Hall is a former country house located to the north of Chester, Cheshire, England. It originated as a small house in about 1760, built for the Rev John Baldwin.[1][2] After Rev Baldwin's death in 1793, the house passed to his eldest son, Thomas Baldwin, who then sold the house and surrounding land in 1800.[3]

Extensive additions were made to it in the 19th century including an elaborate cast iron conservatory.[1][2] The conservatory was not designed by Thomas Harrison in about 1820, as some have stated. He in fact designed the one at Hoole House. The Hoole Hall conservatory does not appear in illustrations until after 1850.[4] During the 20th century it was used by Western Command Army Division to house the Pay Corps and later abandoned and became derelict, but was then converted into a hotel.[1][2] It is constructed in plum-coloured brick, with stone dressings and a Welsh slate roof. Its plan is square, plus a servants' wing. The west wing has two storeys, is symmetrical, sits on a stone plinth, and has rusticated quoins.[1] Figueirdo and Treuherz describe it as "a miniature astylar Palladian villa of brick with stucco dressings".[2] The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Historic England, "Hoole Hall (1229523)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 January 2013
  2. ^ a b c d de Figueiredo, Peter; Treuherz, Julian (1988), Cheshire Country Houses, Chichester: Phillimore, p. 244, ISBN 0-85033-655-4
  3. ^ Ormerod, George (1819), The history of the county palatine and city of Chester: compiled from original evidences in public offices, the Harleian and Cottonian mss., parochial registers, private muniments, unpublished ms. collections of successive Cheshire antiquaries, and a personal survey of every township in the county; incorporated with a republication of King's Vale royal, and Leycester's Cheshire antiquities. (Google ebook), London, p. 440, retrieved 12 January 2012
  4. ^ Champness, John (2005), Thomas Harrison: Georgian Architect of Chester and Lancaster 1744–1829, Centre for North-West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster, p. 111, ISBN 1-86220-169-2