Description:This photograph shows the west front and main entrance to The Mount, a mansion built by Josiah Spode II. The house was built on the site of an old farmhouse between Penkhull and Hartshill around 1803-04 and is now a grade I listed building. Later the site of the North Staffordshire School for the Blind and Deaf (from 1897), it became the Willows Primary School in 2003.
The main entrance, with its semi-circular projection, has Roman Doric columns surmounted by a dome with a skylight. In the photograph, the original house is flanked by latter additions. The North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary occupied the northern part of the estate surrounding The Mount.