Take a look at this Grade I-listed former merchant’s house described as similar to Kew Palace

The Grade I-listed former merchant’s house is set within almost seven acres of grounds, on the edge of the Aru n district in West Sussex, it is close to the coast, Arundel and Chichester.

The house has undergone an extensive and highly sensitive programme of restoration works in recent years. Internal accommodation extends to some 6,400 sq ft, with five bedroom suites and a series of beautifully designed living spaces. Additionally, it has a charming guest cottage and an outdoor heated swimming pool.

German-British art historian and architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner CBE FBA described it as 'the best of its date in the county'. It was probably built for a rich Merchant rather than the landed gentry. This new cosmopolitan Merchant class commissioned their houses to be built in the early English Baroque architecture Artisan Mannerism style.

Pevsner also highlights that its proportions 'are more effective than many palaces' with 'an effect of all-over magnificence combined with precision and elegance in the detail'. He also stated that Barnham Court 'is so similar to Kew Palace... that the same designer must have been responsible'.

The house is five bays wide and three storeys high, three Dutch gables lie at its apex. Two Doric and ten Ionic pilasters define the front, and there is a rusticated brick doorway with a set-in aedicule comprising a triglyph frieze and pediment; box sash windows are painted in custom ‘Barnham Grey’.

The house is built on a double-pile plan with four very tall chimneys and twelve stacks. Lead hoppers and guttering are cleverly concealed behind the dentil cornice, and the house is crowned with a clay peg-tile roof. A series of additions were added in the early 19th century at the house’s southern range in a beautifully complementary design.

As part of the extensive works undertaken by the current owners, master craftsmen carefully removed much of the fabric of the building, including the windows, roof, and original floorboards, in order to restore the house’s original elements, including beams and joists, which were then replaced exactly to create a modern home.

It is on the market for £4,500,000 with Inigo on Zoopla.