The Keys

This is a large house dating from the late 18th century, significantly altered and refaced around 1830 to 1840. It is set within its own grounds, which are terraced down to the seashore. The house is two storeys and has an attic. Its construction is of coursed rubble with cement-rendered quoins and a plinth. The roof is slate, incorporating a mansard and hipped design, with flat-roofed dormers rising above a cement-rendered parapet featuring square panelled piers dividing panels of turned balusters. A block cornice runs along the top of the building.

The west front has a symmetrical arrangement of two superimposed bays of three windows each. These are sash windows with later glazing bars, and the bays are topped with parapets of turned balusters. The ground floor features recessed sash windows with moulded rendered surrounds, alongside one tripartite window and two French windows.

The north front mirrors the west front’s window arrangement. The outer bays project slightly, and instead of ground floor windows, they contain blind niches. A large, rendered rectangular bay with a balustraded parapet and squat piers dominates the centre of the ground floor. Here, a four-light transomed window sits above French windows, with pilaster strips and a frieze below.

The east front has five windows, one recessed and one projecting to the south. A superimposed bay window projects from the recessed section. This features a single-light rectangular design on the first floor and a three-light sash window with later glazing bars on the ground floor, both with a frieze and cornice. A further three-light bay window with a balustraded parapet sits to the north. A good, barred vaulted glazed conservatory of wood frame and small-paned glazing, with radial glazing to a lunette, projects from the recessed bay.

Inside, a fine staircase sweeps upwards in a single flight, dividing into two at the first-floor landing. The staircase has turned balusters continued along the landing with a continuous handrail scrolled at the bottom. Stucco plaques depicting classical figures adorn the wall of the first flight, lit by an oval window rising the full height of the stairwell. An adjoining room features a bracketed gallery with Doric pilasters below and shares the same balusters and handrail as the staircase.