19th to 20th century generator house, 70 Bentfield Road (EHER 81911)

Former generator building built for the Hargrave estate between 1897 and 1921. The building is single storey and constructed of brick with gable roofs covered in slate; it is similar in architectural style to the main house. It is built on a cruciform plan with an addition at the south west corner and to the south east of one arm. Each arm has a projecting Dutch gable end with stone-coped parapet and kneelers. At the centre of the roof is a cupola with a decorative metal finial above believed to have once housed a wind-driven extractor to remove gasses released during the charging of accumulators. The building has been converted into offices and there are no historic fixtures or fittings or electrical generating equipment left.

NRHE data transfer: An application to list number 70 Bentfield Road, Stansted has been submitted to English Heritage. The building is associated with the former Hargrave House estate, the house itself being listed in grade II. Although there is no apparent immediate threat nor a current planning application, it is believed that the industrial estate where the building is located may be redeveloped in the future. Number 70 was probably the former generator building for the Hargrave estate, located with other ancillary structures on the western boundary of the estate, close to the hamlet of Bentfield Green. The house, described as a Jacobean style brick mansion constructed in 1875 by C.R. Pritchett, is now a care home and the estate has been broken up, with 20th century housing over much of the parkland. Comparison between historic maps of the late 19th and 20th century indicate that the generator building was built between 1897 and 1921 and that it and other estate buildings have been considerably altered in the 20th century, whilst others have been demolished and replaced with later 20th century small industrial buildings. Further evidence indicates that the fenestration has been replaced, a double door has been inserted and that no generating equipment remains inside. The building is single storey and constructed of brick with gable roofs covered in slate. It has a cruciform plan with an addition at the south-west corner and to the south-east of one arm of the building. Each arm has a projecting Dutch gable end with stone-coped parapet and kneelers. The fenestration is 20th century in both unaltered and enlarged or inserted openings with stone dressings. A double door in the west elevation has been altered in the 20th century. At the centre of the roof is a cupola on a polygonal plinth with a decorative metal finial above believed to have once housed a wind-driven extractor to remove gases released during the charging of accumulators. The central room has a high vaulted ceiling with wood panelling, but as the building has been converted into offices there are no historic fixtures and fittings and no electrical generating equipment left. For structures which post-date 1840, progressively greater selection is required when considering designation. Number 70 Bentfield Road is an example of a small electricity generating building erected to serve the Hargrave House estate and constructed in a similar architectural style to the main house. For such a building of late 19th or early 20th century date, a high degree of architectural quality including distinctive treatment of the exterior is required, with the claim to special interest amplified by the continuing survival of the interior, any machinery or switch gear and historic setting of the building. Unfortunately, number 70 Bentfield Road is a relatively late example of a small generator building constructed at a time when large central power stations were being built nationally to generate power for transmission over wide areas, for a range of customers and uses. It does not have distinguished architectural treatment with only the cupola and stone dressings providing embellishment, features which are not considered to have special interest in themselves, and it has been altered and added to in the later 20th century. It no longer contains surviving machinery and its historic setting has been lost following the development of the estate including the replacement of other ancillary structures. Although Hargrave House remains, it is at some distance to the east of the generator building, thus the claim to special interest through group value is not met. <1>