Eastern House At Porthcurno Telegraph Station

Eastern House is a telegraph office building constructed in 1903-4 for the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies. It stands on a terrace cut into the lower west-facing slope of the Porthcurno valley. The building is of concrete and metal construction, two storeys high, entirely covered by a flat roof, with all window openings now fitted with modern uPVC frames.

Exterior

The west elevation reveals clear evidence of four major building phases. The original five-bay building displays a polite architectural style with large rectangular portrait windows. The upper floor windows are the tallest and are linked by a continuous sill band. A decorated eaves cornice runs beneath a low simple parapet. The northern two-bay extension sits slightly lower than the original section, has similar window openings, and features a string course rather than a sill band. The earliest two-bay extension attached to the south end of the original building matches the 1904 build in height, has both a sill band and separate sills, and contains only one window on the ground floor. The southernmost and most recent extension is similar in height to the north one, comprises two bays, has smaller windows with security bars on the lower level, and features a string course. At the foot of the wall are a series of cable hatches with metal doors.

The south three-bay elevation has large rectangular landscape windows, with those on the upper floor being taller. All ground floor windows are fitted with security bars. The east elevation is similar in character to the west, except two windows have been replaced by doorways defined by simple doorcases. Standing adjacent to and parallel with the east side of the building is a single-storey service range with a square profile chimney for the central heating system. The north elevation is architecturally basic, consisting of a plain wall with string course and a pair of glass doors together with sliding timber security doors.

Interior

The top floor of the original building consists of a large open space with a high ceiling supported by substantial metal girders carried on round profile iron pillars. The floor is of single herringbone parquet with a skirting box around the base of the wall, picture rail and decorative coving above. The remainder of the interior is rather simple with few architectural features of note. In the extensions, the metal girder floors and ceilings are supported on reinforced concrete pillars. Parts of the building have been refurbished with the insertion of partitions and false ceilings.

Historical Context

The electric telegraph was introduced in the 1830s. Samuel Morse's dot-dash code evolved from 1835, and the technology of long-distance telegraph communication developed rapidly thereafter, with underground and submarine cables being developed from the 1850s. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was a British and American enterprise running from Foilhommerum, Valentia Island in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The first attempts met with limited success and it was not until 1866 that a lasting connection was achieved.

The telegraph station and training school at Porthcurno were established in 1870 when a cable from Carcavellos in Portugal, laid by the Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company, arrived on the beach. This cable was the final link in a chain of cables leading from Bombay in India. The importance of this link at the height of the British Empire cannot be overstated. The original intention was to bring the cable ashore at Falmouth, but the sheltered, sandy beach at Porthcurno was felt to be a much more reliable option. The original telegraph station buildings were situated at and around what was to become known as Zodiac House.

In 1872 the original company merged with three others to form the Eastern Telegraph Company Limited. A year later another cable was laid to Vigo in Spain and staff cottages were built in the valley. During the 1870s experiments to improve the quality and efficiency of the process were conducted at Porthcurno and were ultimately responsible for world-wide improvements in telegraph communication. In 1878 the third cable arrived at Porthcurno from the Isles of Scilly and a fourth to Gibraltar in 1887. The tennis courts were established on rented ground in the 1880s and separate accommodation for the Superintendent (Mercury House) was built in 1896. In the early part of the 20th century considerable expansion of the operation saw many more cables brought into the valley.

In 1904 the telegraph station moved across the valley to new purpose-built fire-proofed accommodation at what was to become known as Eastern House. The original building consisted of a five-bay, flat-roofed and two-storey structure built at a cost of £2,086. On the top floor there was a large instrument room, workshop, experimental room, batteries and artificial lines. On the ground floor, as well as offices, there was a practice room, abstract room and a slip room. A further two-bay extension was added to the northern end of the building in 1906 as a result of the arrival of another cable, this time to Fayal in the Azores. A further two bays were added to the south in 1950 and a final two bays between 1954 and 1962.

In 1928 a conference held in London recommended an amalgamation of all the cable and wireless interests within the Empire. This resulted in the formation of Imperial and International Communications Limited. The following year Porthcurno was accepted as the most important telegraph station in the British Empire, with 14 operational submarine cables terminating in a new concrete-built cable hut situated close to the beach. The cable hut was erected when a number of cables were refurbished and a new cable link was laid from the hut to Eastern House. A few years later in 1934 the company changed its name to Cable and Wireless, the name it retains today.

During World War II the importance and vulnerability of the telegraph station was recognised and the whole operation moved underground in early May 1941 into a pair of tunnels blasted into the adjacent hillside. Further protection was provided by a series of defences including barbed-wire entanglements, flood-lighting and flame throwers. Between the end of the war and 1950 the telegraph station was refurbished, extended and opened as a training school. In 1970, exactly 100 years after the arrival of the first cable, the telegraph station closed although the training school remained until 1993. Many of the modern buildings were dismantled, some were sold off and the remainder eventually transferred to the PK Trust who run Porthcurno Telegraph Museum.