Guisborough, Hutton Hall 1891

More about this scene

This is the impressive south front with its conservatory and orangery. Waterhouse favoured the use of contrasting red brick and terracotta; as well as using it at Hutton Hall, he used it on his other two buildings in Guisborough, the Grammar School and Overbeck, a private house on the western outskirts. The elaborate (and labour intensive) formal gardens were very much in the style of the day, and required an army of full-time gardeners. The head gardener and his staff were accommodated in a purpose-built and elaborate range of houses, bothies, potting sheds and greenhouses (together with the adjoining stable block, these were converted in the early years of this century into a luxury development, Pease Court). There was a fernery, an orangery and a grotto, and the size of the head gardener's house, with its back stairs and maids' accommodation, illustrates the size of the household and the importance of the head gardener in the social structure of a grand Victorian country house. The head gardener's house was designed with an angled window so that all his staff could be monitored, and a special path and gate was provided to allow Lady Pease to carry out her weekly inspection of the gardens and greenhouses with the head gardener.