The Mansion House And Attached Forecourt Railings

TRURO

SW8244NE PRINCE'S STREET 880-1/7/221 (South side) 29/12/50 The Mansion House and attached forecourt railings

GV II*

Town house. c1760. By Thomas Edwards for Thomas Daniell, a merchant and mine owner. Granite ashlar to basement, freestone ashlar above; roof hidden by parapet; brick end stacks; scantle slate roof over carriageway. Double-depth plan with central entrance hall leading to service stairs and large stair halls on the right; 2 reception rooms at the front and 2 at the rear. 3 storeys over basement; symmetrical 5-window street front plus carriage entrance on the right. Basement as plinth; round-arched central doorway with engaged Tuscan columns and open pediment over an intricate fanlight; heavy moulded cornice with dentils under 2nd-floor windows, moulded parapet cornice and flat arches over early C19 hornless 12-pane sashes. On the right is an elliptical-arched vault spanning the carriage entrance above which is a C18 Venetian bay window with thick glazing bars. Rear elevation has canted bay windows. INTERIOR: retains most of its original good quality carpentry, joinery and plasterwork including open-well staircase with open string with key pattern over scrolled brackets, moulded and ramped handrail over scrolled wrought-iron balusters; Venetian stair window with fluted Ionic columns over a turned balustrade and a frieze with Vitruvian scroll; also decorated wall panels with broken pediments containing shells and moulded stairwell ceiling with lozenge panels. Most of the rooms have cornices and chimney-pieces: first-floor rear room has chimney-piece with shouldered architrave and cornice mantel with naturalistic carving of a dog in a landscape; original doors and doorcases, some with pediments; ground floor has very good quality ceilings with modillioned cornices. Service stair has chinoiserie geometric balustrade; entrance vestibule has coved ceiling and small inner vestibule has saucer-shaped dome over 6 round-arched doorways. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: broad flight of steps in front has curved wrought-iron balustrade with urn finials to newel stanchions, these return as railings to surround forecourt. (The Truro Buildings Research Group: Prince's Street and The Quay Area: Truro: 1980-; Colvin H: A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840: London: 1978-: 285).

Listing NGR: SW8274344787