Amport House

Description

The house was purchased by Captain Philipson and then sold on in 1922 to Colonel Sofer-Whitburn, whose commission to Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) to remodel the gardens resulted in the present water terraces, areas of which were planted by Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932)….
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The formal terraced gardens designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and partly planted by Gertrude Jekyll lie on the second and lowest levels on the south-east side of the house (all hard structures listed grade II). Further informally planted pleasure grounds extend north-eastwards to East Lodge and south-westwards towards Furzedown Wood…
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The principal entrance to Amport Park lies in the north-east corner on Furzedown Lane, some 100m west of The Green. A drive enters through wrought-iron gates hung on stone piers designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (Pevsner and Lloyd 1967) which stand beside East Lodge (1871, listed grade II), a two-storey building of yellow brick with a steeply pitched roof and ornamental bargeboards. (Historic England, list entry 1000858) Formal garden. 1923, by Lutyens and Jekyll. A rectangular area in two shallow terraces below the old south terrace of the house. The upper terrace has a centre-piece of an oval stone-framed basin, from which lead narrow canals from the centre of each end, the canals turning at right angles and then dropping to the lower terrace, where they turn outwards, to finish as decorative square ones. The water channels have stone paving on each side, and there are stone walls on each side, and there are stone walls on the borders of each terrace, and in the centre flights of stone steps. The whole scheme ends with a deep wall, separating the garden from the parkland beyond. Associated with the built up part of the scheme is a pattern of planting, formal and informal linked to axial lines of pleached limes to the west and a lower informal garden to the east: the layout includes large vases on pedestals and earthenware jars. (Historic England, list entry 1339355)

8/12 Gateway to East Lodge, Amport House…Piers, with flanking walls, and gates. 1923 by Lutyens. 2 piers of Portland stone, enclosing wrought-iron gates; on a square plan, the elevation has a simplified classical form. The top ball finial merges with corner supports above a simple moulded cornice. The pier has a small upper panel, a plain band, and a plain niche in the lower part. The base is a wide slab with a concave underside. At each side there is a short length of boundary wall, with a plain Portland stone cap above rough Bath stone ashlar. The wrought-iron gates have Georgian features, with side pilasters and ornamental capping. (Historic England, list entry 1093283)

Bibliography

Historic England.Amport Park. [Online] Available from: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000858

Historic England.STRUCTURES COMPRISING TERRACED GARDEN TO AMPORT HOUSE. [Online] Available from: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1339355

Historic England.GATEWAY TO EAST LODGE, AMPORT HOUSE. [Online] Available from: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1093283

Also Cited In

Richardson, M. (1973) Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Edwin Lutyens. Farnborough: Gregg International Publishers.

Bullen M, Hubbuck R, Crook J & Pevsner N (2010) Hampshire: Winchester and the North. The Buildings of England. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Ridgway, C. and Williams, R. (2000) Sir John Vanbrugh and landscape architecture in Baroque England, 1690-1730. Stroud: Sutton in association with the National Trust.

Listing Grade

II, II, II

Listing Reference

1000858 1339355 1093283

Client

Mrs Sofer Whitburn