Carnanton House

Carnanton House is a distinguished country house dating from around 1710, substantially remodelled in the early 19th century with additions from around 1830 and further alterations later in the 19th century. Few later alterations have been made. The building is constructed of dressed coursed slatestone rubble with granite dressings, beneath a hipped bitumenised slate roof. Granite ashlar stacks rise from the sides.

Development and Plan

The 1710 house was built to a double-depth plan, with a central entrance leading to a large entrance hall, principal rooms to the front right and left, and service rooms to the rear, with a stair hall and room to the rear right. In the early 19th century the house was remodelled: the right side became the entrance front, and the room to the right was altered to serve as an entrance hall. During this early 19th-century phase, a single-storey rear range was added to the right of the new entrance front, containing three rooms.

In the mid 19th century, the house was extended at what had become the rear to provide additional service accommodation. A lateral corridor was inserted along what had become the rear left, and a new stack was installed for the kitchen ranges. A large wing was built to the rear left, enclosing a small service yard at the right side, and a wing of one-room plan was added at the left end. The rooms at the original front of the house became principal rooms along the garden front at the left side.

Exterior

The entrance front is symmetrical, of two storeys on a plinth with attic, a first-floor band course, and rusticated quoins only to the left (formerly at the early 18th-century front); plain granite quoins appear to the right. A central late 18th-century granite Ionic portico features paired columns and a cornice, with a flight of granite steps leading to an inner pair of doorways with pilasters and cornices. Each doorway has double doors, panelled and half-glazed. Two-light eight-pane casements flank the portico to right and left, with voussoirs and granite keystones. At first-floor level there are four windows: two to the right are twelve-pane sashes, whilst two to the left are blind and painted. All have voussoirs and granite keystones, and those at first floor have floating cornices. A moulded granite cornice runs overall.

Attached to the right is the early 19th-century addition of single storey, with a central canted bay and two bays to right and left. It has a plinth, cornice and parapet with coping, and a hipped roof with rooflights. The canted bay contains three plate-glass sashes, with two plate-glass sashes to the right and two two-light eight-pane casements to the left, all with voussoirs and keystones and external shutters.

The left side is the original early 18th-century front: a symmetrical two-storey front on a plinth with attic, first-floor band course and rusticated quoins, moulded cornice and parapet with coping. It is of seven bays; all windows are 19th-century plate-glass sashes in the original apertures. The ground floor has a central half-glazed 20th-century door, with the line of a former pediment above and a rusticated granite surround. All windows have voussoirs with keystones, and first-floor windows have floating cornices. Attached to the left is a lower two-storey 19th-century addition, on a plinth, with band course, cornice, parapet and coping and quoins. It has two plate-glass sashes at ground and first floor with granite lintels with keystones.

The right side is the original rear of the house. At attic level, the main range is visible above the 19th-century additions. One early 18th-century eighteen-pane sash survives, with thick glazing bars that are flat-faced outside and ovolo-moulded inside, in an exposed box. Other windows are 19th-century sashes with brick voussoirs; first-floor windows have floating cornices. There is also a fine early 18th-century lead rainwater head with a shield of arms. At the right side, the end of the early 19th-century addition is to the left; this has a six-panelled door with granite columns supporting a flat hood with dentil cornice and panelled soffit. The two-storey 19th-century service wing is to the right, with a half-hipped roof and two-light casement at ground floor to the right. The service yard is partly infilled by an addition with gable end with double doors. The service yard is slate-paved, with a granite trough and pump, a 19th-century twelve-pane sash and 20th-century door, with 19th-century dormers above.

The rear of the house is the original left side; the cornice with parapet and coping are returned. To the left is the 19th-century addition with band course, cornice and parapet with coping. The ground floor has two louvred windows; the first floor has two twelve-pane sashes with cambered brick arches with keystones. To the end left is the two-storey 19th-century service wing, with attic, rendered, of four bays, with random fenestration, all sashes. A small two-storey block is attached at the left end, in rubble, with a nipped slate roof and an external stair to the upper door. Between the service range and the 19th-century addition to the main house, the 19th-century kitchen was extended as a single-storey canted bay with 20th-century casements to all sides.

Interior

The entrance hall was remodelled in around the early to mid 19th century. It has panelled walls, with a screen of Ionic columns dividing the entrance hall from the stair hall, a frieze and plaster ceiling. The plasterwork throughout is of very high quality. The mahogany stair hall is of the 19th century: an open-well stair with turned balusters, moulded swept handrail, ramped dado panelling and closed string with Greek key frieze. The ceiling over the stair hall has plasterwork, with plaster surrounds to paintings on the rear and side walls. The surrounds have scrolled heads and swags of fruits and flowers, with a vertical panel to each side with a grotesque at the top. The plasterwork includes plums, pomegranates, grapes, etc., with fine vigorous modelling. Modillions appear on the landing cornice.

At ground floor there are three rooms along the left side. The first room has a marble chimneypiece, with a cupboard to each side, of early 18th-century date, with shaped shelves and plaster acanthus moulding. It has a fine plaster ceiling and dado panelling, panelled shutters to windows, and an enriched modillion cornice. All the ground-floor rooms have six-panelled doors with egg and dart mouldings. The central room has a late 18th-century marble chimneypiece with Ionic columns, and a plaster overmantel with swags and fluted Ionic pilasters. The doors are set in eared architraves, with a pulvinated frieze with egg and dart cornice. There is fielded dado panelling and a modillion cornice. The end room to the left was divided in around the mid 19th century to form the corridor giving access to the service rooms. However, the early 18th-century moulded plaster cornice remains intact, with a cable moulding and central plasterwork. All fielded panelling with bolection-moulded dado rail and a marble chimneypiece, with mantel with central panel with swags.

To the rear left is the 19th-century addition of one-room plan, with a stone chimneypiece. Along the rear is the slate-paved corridor. The 19th-century kitchen retains 19th-century mantels over double fireplaces; one 19th-century range is still in situ, made by Oatey and Martyn of Wadebridge. The site of the former service stair from ground to first floor is now a larder. Above, the service stair of the early 18th century remains from first floor to attic, with turned balusters with circular knops and ramped dado panelling.

The early to mid 19th-century addition, to the right of the entrance hall, has three interconnecting rooms. All rooms have six-panelled doors with egg and dart mouldings. The plasterwork in these rooms is very rich, and all rooms have chimneypieces in marble. The central room has the canted bay, with a panelled plasterwork ceiling with shells and enriched mouldings. There are pelmets to windows and panelled shutters, and a marble chimneypiece with free-standing Ionic columns.

At first floor, the central room at the left side is of early 18th-century date, with eared architrave to the chimneypiece, scrolled dado rails, dado panelling, modillion cornice and six-panelled doors. Other rooms at first floor retain early 18th-century plain moulded cornices and dado panelling. In the main range there is a corridor dividing the front rooms from the rear rooms. Two of the rear rooms were converted around the late 19th century as bathrooms, and retain all original bathroom fittings.

Carnanton House is a fine example of an early 18th-century house, remodelled over several phases and retaining features from all periods. The original entrance front is well-proportioned and largely intact.