A Visit to Sunnycroft
Comparisons with Local Victorian Houses
This week I visited Sunnycroft a local National Trust site. Sunnycroft is a Victorian villa on the edge of Wellington, just a few miles from us. It’s a well-preserved house still containing most of the original furniture and contents right down to the clothes in the wardrobes. I wanted to visit to compare the building with our house and see if I could spot any features that could help me unravel the history of this house.
Sunnycroft was built in 1879. I don’t know exactly when ours was built but someone was living here in the census of 1841 so it must have been before that. In 1899 Sunnycroft was bought by Mary Jane Slaney who was the wealthy widow of a wine merchant. She extensively remodelled and extended the house adding a grand staircase and a huge billiard room. The house almost doubled in size.
As such, Sunnycroft is quite a lot newer than ours and certainly somewhat grander having been built predominantly for entertaining. The fireplaces are of a more Edwardian style and there is mahogany everywhere. I did learn that there is a concrete ceiling in the billiard room which was a fire safety measure. This explains the similar concrete ceiling in our drawing room. There was a similar electric bell system to ours but also the original mechanical bells. I haven’t found any evidence of these in our house yet but I expect they were here at some point. The quarry tiles on the kitchen floor were also very familiar.
The gardens of the house were very interesting. The apple store and heated greenhouse were very familiar, as was the vegetable plot. I also gathered some good ideas for the garden. I loved the formal rose garden outside the bay window and the clay tiles lining the paths. I liked the greenhouse attached to the house as well. Does that make it a conservatory? Anyway, a Victorian-styled glasshouse would look amazing here.
So, perhaps not the wealth of information I was looking for but very interesting to see. I wonder whether anyone from our house was ever entertained at Sunnycroft.
This week I hope to learn lots more as I’m having two elderly neighbours to tea. I’ve already heard some fantastic stories from them so I can’t wait to hear more. In the meantime, I’m sanding cupboards and evicting the wasps that have invaded the estate office. Have a great week everyone!