Cromwell House

It was built in 1637–38 for Sir Richard Sprignell, whom Charles I created a baronet in 1641; the architect is unknown. It is recognised with Kew Palace as a surviving London example of seventeenth-century 'artisan mannerist' domestic architecture, its seven-window frontage showing the influence of Inigo Jones, and the listing particulars call it a 'splendid example of Renaissance brickwork', with a slate mansard roof of seven dormers, a balustraded flat roof and a lead cupola on a tall octagonal column. The oak staircase carries carved military figures of the Stuart period on the newel posts; many were stolen while the house stood empty in the 1980s and have been replaced with plaster copies. The da Costa family added a north wing and the carriageway entrance in 1678–79, and a fire in 1865 destroyed the roof, old dome and second floor. Three of the six Grade I entries in the borough — this house and the two Highpoint blocks — stand within half a mile of each other in Highgate; Highgate Cemetery and Kenwood House, across the boundary, are in the London Borough of Camden.