Penmellyn

House, circa 1855, by William White, on Bank Street in St Columb Major. Few later alterations. Built of stone rubble with stone dressings, bitumenised slate roof with crested ridge tiles and gable ends. Lateral and gable end stacks with stone shafts.

The plan is asymmetrical and double-depth. Entrance is through a porch, with a wing projecting to the left containing a principal room, and another principal room to the rear left. To the right is a room set back, said to have been a doctor's surgery, with a stair hall behind and service rooms with service stair to the rear right.

The house exemplifies Victorian Gothic and Vernacular Revival style. The exterior is two storeys with an asymmetrical front. To the left is a gable end with a bay containing a square bay at ground floor with 2-light casements and pitched roof. Above this is a first floor 4-light window with 2-centred arch, slate-hung. A 2-light casement sits at attic level, with a stack to the right side. The gabled porch has a buttress, a 5-light casement to front, and a pointed arched doorway at the right side with a half-glazed door. The porch is tiled, with an inner doorway having a cranked head and 2-centred arched overlight, and a door with strap hinges. To the right of the porch is a 4-light casement with a slate-hung depressed 2-centred arch above, and a small 2-light casement at first floor.

The left side is the garden front. At ground floor to the right is a 3-light casement with depressed 2-centred arch, slate-hung. To the left is a triangular bay with cusped casements and pyramidal roof set on a broached base. The first floor has a 3-light casement with segmental slate arch and a triangular oriel on wooden bracket with slate roof. An external stack to the left is corbelled at first floor, with a slate-hung oriel set close by. A 3-light casement sits in a steep pitched dormer to the attic. At the right side of the main range are 3-light and 4-light windows with slate-hung 2-centred arches, with a similar single pointed light with double between. At the far right end is a 3-light 20th-century window, and at the end left is a single light with double, stepped cill, to the doctor's surgery. The first floor has a gable to the left over a similar 3-light window, and a 2-light casement to the attic, the upper part of the gable slate-hung. At first floor to the right is a 4-light window with slate-hung 2-centred arch. An axial stack with ashlar shaft, cornice, and small triangular attic dormer stands centrally. The service wing to the right has a 2-light casement and half-glazed door, with a stable door at the end to the wash-house. The main gable end above has a bellcote with pitched roof and bell, and a single light to the left of the stack.

At the rear, the gable end to the right has a ground floor 4-light casement with slate-hung 2-centred arch, a 4-pane sash at attic level, and the apex of the gable also slate-hung. A buttress stands to the left in the angle to the end to the left, slate-hung at first floor level, with a single light. The ground floor has the back door with cranked head and pointed arched fanlight. A single storey service wing to the left has a similar 3-light window with slate-hung 2-centred arch. The main gable end to the left has a small gabled dormer at the inner side and an external stack at the gable end.

Interior: The entrance hall has a tiled floor with a winder stair to the rear; the stair has tiled treads and a free-flying handrail supported on wrought iron brackets. A service stair stands to the rear right. All ground floor doors are panelled with asymmetrical panels. The room to the front right has a chimneypiece with tiles and pointed slate arch, with a stone corbelled mantel. The front left room has a Gothic stone chimneypiece. The rear left room has complete panelling and a stone chimneypiece with pointed arch in slate, Devon marble mantel, and tiles.

This is a very good example of a William White house, planned in Gothic style with asymmetrical grouping of parts and close attention to detail, such as the design of window catches and other ironwork.