page_title: Ascot House
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Ascot House / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Ascot House, front door
context_page_description: Ascot House is a heritage-listed villa at 15 Newmarket Street, Newtown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1870s to 1890s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: Ascot House is a single-storey timber residence with an attached two-storey timber extension, referred to as a folly. The house has a verandah around three sides under a separate roof, supported by slender double columns with decorative cast-iron capitals. Parts of the verandah have been enclosed.
  The original section of the house is a simple U-shaped plan with verandahs extending beyond the length of the house. The folly stands within the central space created by the plan of the house, protected on each side by the enclosed verandahs and has external access at the rear of the house. Internal access to the folly is gained from the end of the large central hallway in the old house.
  The folly is of a unique design with an intricately modelled facade of eclectic styles. The external timber features are reminiscent of neo-classical, neo-gothic and Dutch design. The folly is a tall narrow structure with layers of pediments, window and door frames, trimmings and brackets giving the facade a textured appearance.
  The top of the facade is marked by two flying gables with triangular pediments and semi-circular valances with a central finial. The gables are supported by decorative timber brackets and they frame vertical timber panelling on the face of the building. The gables surmount small, elongated oriel windows with narrow rectangular glass panels. In the centre of the facade is a neo-classical triangular pediment which surmounts a Dutch-style pediment with a decorative timber "heart" motif in the centre. On ground level, a protruding set of doors framed in Gothic style arches are protected by a double awning, the top layer convex and the bottom layer concave. The two awnings are separated by a large fascia board decorated by rectangular panels.
  The house is set on a large piece of land extending from the western side of the house towards Tor Street. The grounds contain mature trees, walking paths and fish ponds. A large palm on the north-west corner of the house is an original planting.
  The front door to the house is surmounted by a fanlight with coloured glass and displays the initials "WB" in the central panel (WB stands for William Beit, a previous owner and builder of the folly). The front door is flanked on either side by large step-down bay windows which are repeated along the sides of the verandahs.
  The floors are carpeted internally except for the front living room and the dining room where the timber boards are exposed and polished and a decorative border design has been painted on the floor. The front door accesses a long and wide hallway which leads off to bedrooms and formal rooms. At the end of the hall the ballroom of the folly extends perpendicular to the hall. It is a large room with timber vaulted ceiling. The original decorative painted stencils are still visible on the ballroom ceiling. On the eastern side of the ballroom is a guest bedroom built in an enclosed section of the original verandah. On the western side is the kitchen also in an enclosed part of the verandah. Directly behind the ballroom is the former billiard room, now a public tea room, which is oval-shaped and features heavily panelled ceilings including square panels on the top of the ceilings and gothic arches around the cornices. On the eastern side of the tea room is the former maids' quarters accessed by a small set of steps. This area originally featured three very small bedrooms built into the enclosed verandah. The area has now been opened into one space but still demonstrates timber VJs and joinery. On the western side of the tea room also accessed by some steps through a gothic arch way is the commercial kitchen situated in what was originally the scullery.
  The second storey of the folly rises only above the former billiard room area and is accessed by a curved timber stairway from the ballroom. This upper level contains two bedrooms with fireplaces and views to the surrounding area from the oriel windows.
caption: Front door
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