water tower

Freestanding four-stage water tower, built c. 1880, now in use as house. Single-storey gabled projection to southeast, extended to southwest and having single-storey lean-to extension. Flat leaded roof to tower over corniced metal water tank. Pantile roofs to extensions, with replacement uPVC gutters and pierced bargeboards and finial on profiled timber brackets. Brown stock brick walls laid in English garden wall bond with red brick banding over painted masonry plinth to tower and projection; painted roughcast walls to extensions. Square-headed window openings to tower, with stepped brick reveals, granite sills and replacement uPVC windows; round-headed window to southwest gable of projection, similarly detailed. Square-headed replacement diagonally-battened door to extension. Located on north side of Hampstead Estate.

A late nineteenth-century water tower, converted and minimally extended for use as a house. The structure is characterized by a lively palette of polychrome brick and granite, as well as decorative bargeboards and finials, typical of the period. It is first shown on the third edition map of about 1906, but shares many stylistic elements with nearby Elmhurst, which was constructed in 1869, placing it in the later part of the nineteenth century. Despite its conversion to a new use, it retains its original form, enhanced by the survival of the metal water tank and original features. It is one of a group of structures erected by the Eustace family in connection with the Hampstead Estate, which evolved throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to provide advanced and humane care and treatment for people suffering from mental illnesses.