| Description | Pemberton House, Wakefield. High status house built 1752.
'Large mid C18 house refenestrated in early C19. Originally the town residence of Pemberton Milnes, cloth merchant, who also built the Orangery, Back Lane (qv). 3 storeys, five windows on main front. Light red brick. Fairly high pitched hipped swept roof of stone slates has later moulded wood eaves cornice, cambered arches and stone cills to sash windows with delicate glazing bars. Right angle cut away on ground floor in late C19 and cast iron column inserted for support. Other facades irregular. On north front a 6 panel C19 door in stone architrave with cornice and pediments on scrolled consoles'.
(English Heritage listed building description. Date listed 20/01/1975. http://list.english heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1258908. Web site accessed 10/12/2013).
Pemberton House was the subject of an archaeological assessment by Peter Thornborrow in 1991. This was undertaken in order to write a consultation response (circumstances unknown). The photographic images produced by the assessment are held by WYAAS.
In the consultation response, Thornborrow described the house as built in 1752 by Pemberton Milnes prior to his marriage in January 1754. Pemberton Milnes built the gardens and orangery on land to the north Back Lane away from the house due to restrictions in available land (see PRN 12958). The document provides an account of the Milnes estate and the subsequent occupants of Pemberton House.
A detailed building description is provided by a document held in WYAAS archives ('S.C and S.P.' (attribution unclear). 1976. 'No 122 Westgate, Wakefield, West Yorkshire'). The report describes the house as built of brick in the Flemish bond, and of three stories with a projecting cornice along the south front. There are five windows to the south front and the house runs back in depth through four rooms, with a change in direction in the middle (necessitated by the restrictions of the site). The main entry is on the east front and enters a stair hall which is typical in having a reception room on either side.
The report goes on to provide a detail description of interior arrangement rooms and their period fittings.
WYAAS archives holds a plan of Pemberton house which is a reference file associated with the WYAS/RCHME Rural Houses Survey, c.1979. The source of this plan is unclear but may relate to a planning application (Anon. c.1979). |