Tor House And Terrace Walls And Piers

Tor House and Terrace Walls and Piers

House with terrace walls and piers, dated 1792. Built for Joshua Rowe, proprietor of the Crinnis mines near St Austell, and formerly known as Crinnis House. The building has undergone very few later alterations.

The main house is constructed of stuccoed stone rubble with a hipped slate roof featuring a central brick stack and deep bracketed eaves. It is three storeys on a plinth, arranged over three bays with a double-depth plan. The central entrance hall leads to a stair well to the rear. The ground floor contains principal rooms to front right and left, with service rooms behind; the first floor has principal rooms along the front and smaller rooms to the sides; the service stair occupies the rear right. Principal rooms are heated from a central paired stack.

The front elevation displays a central Tuscan porch on three moulded steps with pilasters to the rear and paired columns to the front, topped by an entablature without a cornice. The porch contains half-glazed double doors with a decorative fanlight. French windows to right and left have Gothic margin glazing and overlights. The first floor contains similar sash windows with a cill band course and floating cornices. The attic storey has three 20th-century six-pane lights with a cill band course.

The house stands on a terrace featuring a central flight of fourteen granite steps with pedestals either side. Each pedestal has a plain top, reeded sides and moulded panels to the front. The rendered terrace wall extends approximately one metre in height for about ten metres to both right and left, with band courses returned from the front. The left side comprises three bays with a central 20th-century light and a blind window to the right on the ground floor; the first floor has two twelve-pane sashes to the left and a blind window to the right; the second floor has three 20th-century six-pane lights. The right side follows the same fenestration pattern. The rear displays three bays with blind windows throughout, except for a round-headed stair light at first floor centre with splayed glazing bars remaining in the fanlight; a ground floor window to the left is blocked.

Attached to the centre is a two-storey flat-roofed service wing, dated 1792 on a small gabled addition, with a six-pane light at first floor to the centre.

Interior

The interior of Tor House displays exceptionally fine plasterwork throughout, unusually continued to the attic storey with very few alterations. The entrance features a double vault with pilasters at the springing of the arches and round-headed recesses to left and right in the first vault; the second hall bay is also vaulted and contains six-panelled doors to left and right leading to the principal rooms. All vaulting incorporates decorative plasterwork.

The rear stair well is also vaulted, featuring an open-well stair with a wreathed handrail to a Tuscan column newel and cast iron balusters with a lyre-pattern baluster to alternate steps. Six-panelled doors to right and left from the stair hall lead to the kitchen to the left and the butler's pantry and service stair to the right. The stair well is bowed at the rear.

The ground floor room at right has a bowed rear with a triglyph and mutule frieze decorated with flowers and masks. It contains doors to the front entrance, the rear stair hall and rear service and cupboards, all six-panelled with moulded architraves and panelled jambs and soffits. A curved door to the rear left follows the bow of the room. This room has dado panelling and a fine marble chimneypiece with a mask of Bacchus. The ceiling features a fine plaster rose.

The ground floor room to the front left has a fleur-de-lys and oak leaf plaster cornice, dado panelling and a six-panelled door. This room does not have a bowed rear, as the kitchen occupies the space behind. The kitchen retains a moulded plaster cornice and a kitchen fireplace to the inner side wall with a wide segmental head, mantel with keystone and slate pilasters. The cornice in the butler's pantry to the rear right is concealed by a 20th-century lower ceiling. A narrow open-well service stair occupies the rear right.

The first floor landing is also vaulted with similar plasterwork. All doors are six-panelled in mahogany with moulded architraves and panelled jambs and soffits. Secondary rooms to rear and centre, right and left, are all fitted with plaster cornices. The principal rooms are arranged along the front; two to the right are connected by double doors, forming a ballroom. These have fine plaster cornices and ceiling roses with reeded marble chimneypieces to the rear. The connecting double doors are panelled within an architrave featuring Greek key moulding.

On the second floor, the rooms have plainer plaster cornices with all panelled doors. Windows feature a splayed fan design at the top corners of the architraves. The second floor landing also displays fine plasterwork to the vaulting, with a cornice decorated with acanthus, egg and dart beading. The quality of detail throughout the house is very high and remarkably complete.