Description

SY 29 NW WIDWORTHY

4/144 Widworthy Court - 22.2.55 GV II

Hotel, former country house. Dated 1830, built for Sir Edward Marwood Elton, baronet; the architect was George Repton. Plastered limestone ashlar; brick stacks with ashlar chimneyshafts, most with original chimneypots; slate roof. Plan: U-plan house. The main block faces onto the garden terrace (q.v) to the south-east. It has a double depth plan with 3 front rooms and behind a large entrance hall and stair hall. Thus the main entrance is on the left (south-west) end. The left rear wing projects at right angles and returns the same height as the main block 1-room then continues as a service wing at a lower level. The right (north-east) rear wing contains the principal parlour and at the end set forward from the parlour wing is what looks like a former billiard room (now converted to bedrooms). Most of the rooms are heated by a series of axial stacks. There is some secondary infill of the courtyard. 2 storeys with attics to the main part and cellars under the parlour wing. Exterior: the garden front has a 1:3:1 - window front. The centre bay is slightly recessed. The first floor windows are 12-pane sashes with moulded architraves. The ground floor centre-bay windows are in a canted bay with front doorway. The windows each side are tripartite 6-pane sashes with Doric pilasters between, entablature above and balustrade below. There is a plain platband at first floor level. There is a dentil eaves cornice and parapet. The attic storey at the left end which carries round over the entrance front is probably secondary. All the roofs are hipped. The north-east parlour front has a 5-window front of 12-pane sashes in the same style as the front, and the former billiard room block has a similar 3-window front and a open parapet of turned balusters. The entrance front has a 3-window front of 12-pane sashes and there are panels below the ground windows. The large central doorway contains part-glazed double doors with side lights and overlight behind a Doric porch with 4 columns and balustrade. The service block, set back a little to left contains plain 12-pane sashes including a full height canted bay. The date plaque is on the wall alongside the bay window. Interior: the entrance hall and stairhall is large and impressive. There is a segmental arch between the two, its soffit enriched by ornamental plasterwork. There is a monumental chimneypiece to the stairhall fireplace featuring the Marwood arms flanked by garlands, a fret pattern frieze above, and above that a large eared picture frame. Large open well stair; open string, cast iron bulbous balusters, mahogony handrail and curtail step. The tripartite sash window lighting the stairs has Doric columns between and a balustrade below. The ceiling has a cornice of acanthus leaf-shaped modillions with rosettes between and it is panelled with the ribs enriched with guilloche. Although there is still some original joinery and other detail much has been removed. Repton's original plans including the landscaping of the grounds are in the RIBA library. Apparently the scheme was unfinished; a giant Ionic portico was originally intended but never built. Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: SY2066299614

External Links

• Wikidata Q26618070

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Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]