Listing of the Day
Location: Deal, Kent
Price: £2.75 million (US$3.43 million)
Set three miles from the east Kent coast at Deal, in formal gardens and parkland, this Grade II*-listed 18th-century house, named Ripple Court, features the work of two renowned architects.
In 1795, the neoclassical architect Sir John Soane, who was working on the design of the Bank of England’s headquarters at the time, was commissioned by Colonel John Sladen to design him a house on the site of the original 16th-century Ripple Court.
Sir Soane created a four-story home in classic Georgian style, with white brick elevations, ashlar stone cladding, decorative stone cladding, Coade stoneware dressings, pilasters and pedimented windows.
On its front is a central pedimented doorcase and tall and elegant windows on either side. To the side, it has bay windows and a demi-lune canopy on decorative metal pillars. Inside, it has a cantilevered staircase and a curved drawing room with wide views of the grounds.
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In the 1880s, James M. MacLaren, a pioneering Scottish Arts and Crafts architect whose work integrated Scottish vernacular traditions, extended the home at the rear to create secondary accommodation, garages, and an octagonal tower with a domed roof.
Unsurprisingly, it has magnificent architecture, said selling agent Simon Backhouse, though it could use a bit of modernization. “Today, Ripple Court is a bit of a Sleeping Beauty, waiting for someone to swoop in and bring her into the 21st century.”
The estate has extensive outbuildings and impressive grounds befitting of its architecture, formed of formal gardens; long, level lawns; parkland and woodland on three sides, offering “a sense of privacy and attractive views while being a manageable size,” Mr. Backhouse said.
Stats
The 9,144-square-foot house stands on 8.6 acres of grounds and gardens. It has seven/eight bedrooms, five bathrooms (three are en-suite), three reception rooms, a breakfast room, two kitchens, flower room, cloakroom and office, a wine cellar, a snooker room, a gym and three storage rooms, secondary accommodation and a range of outbuildings.
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Design Cachet
Soane is notable for designing the Bank of England on the City of London’s Threadneedle Street, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and his eponymous house and museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn, which houses 40,000 objects—from paintings to curiosities— that he collected from across the globe.
MacLaren, meanwhile, influenced Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who is arguably Scotland’s most famous architect and designer.
Amenities
The house features a lift, which is unusual for a period country house.
Adjoining the house is an outbuilding with stables and garage and a three-bedroom flat above.
Lying directly behind the house are outbuildings, extensive garaging and a former bakehouse.
On the grounds is a detached Grade II listed 17th-century farmhouse with four bedrooms, and a courtyard enclosed by an unconverted Kentish barn, a dairy barn, milking parlour, and a stable block and further outbuildings.
There is also a swimming pool in a walled garden, a further, larger walled garden, enclosed by a serpentine flint wall, and gardens with specimen trees, topiary trees and a pond.
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Neighborhood Notes
The village of Ripple lies three miles outside the seaside town of Deal, in east Kent. Deal is a former port that’s now a seaside resort, which offers a well-stocked, historic high street, charming streets, art galleries, specialist food shops, and a maritime feel.
The coast of France is 20 miles away and is visible on a clear day.
Agent: Simon Backhouse, Strutt & Parker
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