Edgcumbe House

Edgcumbe House, Lostwithiel

House, now municipal offices and library. The building comprises an early 16th-century structure now forming a rear wing, with a substantially larger front range of circa 1750 and some later alterations.

The 18th-century front elevation faces Fore Street and is constructed of granite ashlar with a slurred slate mansard roof and central chimney stacks. The rear early 16th-century wing is built of slatestone and granite rubble with dressings and a slate roof. The building is arranged in an L-plan, with the original early range running on a north-south axis and facing east. In the mid-18th century, the orientation was reversed by the addition of a new front range facing Fore Street, which relegated the original building to the position of a back wing. The 18th-century range is a single-depth plan house with a central entrance to the hall, principal rooms to left and right, and a rear stair tower. The rear range is entered from the rear left. The original early building may once have had wings projecting to the front right and left, probably demolished in the 18th century, though parts were partially incorporated into adjacent properties at Nos 22 and 22a Fore Street. What survives appears to be three rooms and a through passage, with one room to the left and two to the right. The outer rooms are heated by gable-end stacks, and the room to the right of the passage by a rear lateral stack. The end room to the right was probably a kitchen; the original stair location is unclear.

The 18th-century street frontage is two storeys with an attic, standing on a moulded plinth and five bays wide. The ground floor has central double doors with an overlight, plain pilasters and a hood on consoles, probably altered in the mid-19th century. To the left and right are two plate-glass sashes with granite voussoirs and a band course above. The first floor has 15-pane sashes with voussoirs and a moulded eaves cornice. Five dormers, each with a 12-pane sash and pitched roof, light the attic storey. The rear of the main range features a stair tower in coursed granite rubble with a hipped mansard roof. A half-glazed door opens at ground floor, with an 18-pane sash on the first floor and a 12-pane sash on the second floor, all with thick glazing bars. To the left of the stair tower, a rear addition of two storeys now forms part of Nos 22 and 22a Fore Street.

The interior of the main front range is carefully detailed. The entrance hall has 19th-century dado panelling, with the stair tower to the rear providing access to the rear wing to the rear left. A fine 18th-century open-well stair rises to the second floor, featuring turned and knopped balusters (three to each tread), a moulded and ramped handrail with fluted Ionic newels, a moulded string and panelled sides.

At ground floor to the front right is the Mayor's Parlour, with a chimneypiece to the rear of the room. The chimneypiece is of marble with an eared architrave, frieze with eagles' heads and dentilled mantel. A plaster overmantel occupies an eared architrave. The cornice features modillions and acanthus ornament. The walls have fielded panelling with egg-and-dart mouldings and a dado rail. Fine plasterwork decorates the ceiling. A six-panelled door with left-hand hinges is set in an architrave with egg-and-dart mouldings, pulvinated frieze and a pediment on consoles with acorns.

The front-left room at ground floor has a chimneypiece to the rear with eared architrave and a goat's head on the frieze, with a mantel on consoles. Panelled walls and a dado rail, with a moulded plaster cornice.

At first floor, the room to the front right is the Clerk's Room, with a chimneypiece to the rear featuring a Greek-key frieze below the mantel and marble pilasters. Plain moulded plaster cornice and panelled shutters to the windows. Three rooms occupy the front elevation, all with six-panelled fielded doors. The front-left room has a chimneypiece with marble surround and moulded mantel, with a plaster over-mantel and moulded plaster cornice. The small central room has a similar cornice.

At second floor, a six-panelled fielded door opens to the front central room.

The rear wing is arranged in two main ranges. To the left, a slightly higher block with corrugated asbestos roof, gable ends and a gable-end stack to the right in granite ashlar with weathering and shaped top. Large granite quoins enclose the right end of this block; the wall steps back to the quoins. The second range to the right, at a lower roof level, is constructed of slatestone rubble with some granite ashlar, also with granite quoins to the right end and a 19th-century slate roof with gable ends and no stacks. This range has been much rebuilt, with wall thickness greater at ground floor than at first floor. It was possibly used in the 19th century as a stable or outhouse range, incorporating an earlier structure of 17th-century or earlier date.

The first range is built of mixed slatestone and granite rubble with some granite ashlar, arranged roughly in four bays at ground floor. From the left, the ground floor has a former door now blocked, probably the passage entrance, and a four-light 20th-century casement with granite ashlar apron and re-used granite jambs. The second bay has a projecting bay window with settings for mullions, a wide 20th-century window and re-used moulded granite jambs. The third bay has a wide four-centred arched chamfered doorway leading to an inner 20th-century door with a six-pane light to the left, with granite lintel. To the right the wall is rebuilt in slatestone with a 20th-century sash. The wall then breaks back to the end bay to the right, with granite quoins. At first floor level the wall is also stepped back with granite quoins under the eaves. Three four-light 20th-century casements open to the right, and a three-light casement to the left with cut granite jambs and a 20th-century light at the end left.

The rear of this range has a three-light chamfered granite window at ground floor to the left, and the remains of two granite window surrounds at first floor. The wall is stepped back at first-floor level, with a straight joint to the left of the ground-floor window.

The second range has a central loading door with two-light casements to right and left under the eaves. At ground floor are three doors: the central one has a window inserted, and the two to the right have splayed granite lintels. The door to the left features a re-used moulded granite string course. The stonework is much rebuilt throughout.

The interior of the early back range has been substantially altered by 19th- and 20th-century partition walls, making the original plan unclear. There appears to be a passage, with one room to the left probably originally heated by a gable-end stack, and two rooms to the right. The inner room to the right is heated by a rear lateral stack, and the outer one by the gable-end stack which remains.

The room to the left has two three-light granite chamfered windows to the rear, with chamfered mullions and some lattice glazing remaining. The remains of a four-centred arched doorway are concealed by a cupboard on the front wall, with a corresponding window (formerly a door) on the rear wall.

The room to the right of the passage has a rear fireplace with a flat chamfered lintel and a recess to the left with a two-centred arched hollow-chamfered surround incorporating a drain of uncertain function, probably a laver. The front window of the room has a wide granite cill with three circular holes, possibly a cream shelf, though its function is uncertain.

The end room to the right has the front bay window and a gable-end fireplace with a wide chamfered segmental arch and a former oven to the left. A keeping hole appears to the right of the fireplace, and another in the front wall. In the rear wall is a range of recesses of uncertain function, one with a central mullion and one with a round granite head. The stair is boxed in to the rear left of the room. On the formerly external wall, now inside the later range, are the weatherings from the granite stack.