The Courtyard
Stables and a stable-yard with access from North Street once closed off an elegant garden and courtyard. On the garden side of the stables was a gazebo. At a later date (c. 1958) the gazebo was removed but its handsome columns entablature and cornice were preserved and attached to the north end of the brew-house which runs on one side of the paved courtyard. The latter is now adorned with an astrolabe mounted on a stone and brick pedestal, a gift from the Friends of Guildford House to mark Jubilee Year 1977.
The Rear Exterior
The walls to the courtyard are covered with traditional tile hanging. Those to the north rooms, overlooking the courtyard, are faced with 'Mathematical Tiles' which simulate bricks. These tiles are hung on battens as with plain tile hanging but they are specially moulded so as to interlock and, when the joints are pointed, they present the appearance of brickwork.
Mathematical tiles were a Georgian invention and their use seems to have been confined to the south and south-east of England (Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire). They seem first to have come into use when red brick became fashionable, to cover half-timbered walls and to give a more elegant appearance. This effect is achieved at Guildford House where they are indistinguishable from finely laid brick. It is difficult to say when this type of facing was applied to the building, but it could be in the 1730s when the Martyr family purchased the house and added extra height to the ceiling of the Pine Room.
The view of the house from the garden is greatly enhanced by the charming oriel windows which overlook the garden and the courtyard with their decorated plaster ornament.
The plan of the house was simple, the main rooms at the front filling the width of the site with a small wing on the east side originally tucked in behind the Castle Inn. A second wing built in the mid-nineteenth century and a stone staircase, leading from the Garden Room, have been demolished.
Guildford House Gallery
155 High Street
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 3AJ
Tel: 01483 444740
Fax: 01483 444742
Email: guildfordhouse@guildford.gov.uk