Prideaux House With Attached Wall And Gazebo

Prideaux House with Attached Wall and Gazebo

This house with attached screen wall and gazebo was built in 1808 for one of the Rashleigh family. The main block is constructed with granite ashlar on the front and left sides, and granite rubble (partly rendered) elsewhere. It is roofed with slate tiles on a hipped frame, featuring ridge tiles behind a high parapet, with rendered axial stacks.

The house follows a double-depth plan with a central entrance and principal rooms to the front right and left; the front left room opens into the rear left room. A stairwell occupies the rear right, with a large contemporary service wing of three storeys (above a cellar level) attached to the rear right.

The main front elevation is symmetrical, presenting two storeys with a 1:1:1 bay arrangement. The central bay projects forward and is supported by two pairs of granite Tuscan columns. These carry a wide, unmoulded round arch forming the porch, with the archivolt recessed into the house. Above the arch sits a straight cornice. A low flight of four granite steps beneath the porch leads to a recessed doorway fitted with panelled double doors bearing applied coats of arms of earlier date, flanked by sidelights and topped with a decorative fanlight. Large 15-pane sashes with sidelights and segmental heads light the ground floor either side; the first floor has three 12-pane sashes with a bandcourse above, cornice, and blocking course.

The left side elevation has three central bays that project forward. At ground floor are two large 12-pane sashes with segmental heads, each with a flight of eight granite steps descending to a garden terrace. Between them sits a central round-headed niche bearing Rashleigh arms. The first floor displays a bandcourse and cill band to three 12-pane sashes, surmounted by cornice and blocking course.

The right side features a rubble screen wall extending approximately ten metres, rising to first-floor level at the front. Behind this wall lies the service courtyard, with four open bays having cambered heads below the wall, serving as open storage on the yard side. At the wall's end stands a small single-storey gazebo with a pyramidal slate roof and a twentieth-century door with brick jambs to its right side.

The right side of the main house contains, at basement level, three segmental-headed doors and two symmetrically arranged 12-pane sashes. The ground floor has five windows, all 12-pane sashes except the second from the left, which is blind. The first floor displays five windows, blind except for two to the right fitted with twentieth-century sashes. The upper level of the first floor has two 12-pane sashes and two 9-pane sashes, with the second from left being blind. A stack rises from the eaves on the left, heating the front rooms.

The service wing attached to the right is a large three-storey contemporary structure (1808) standing on a cellar. Towards the front, a cellar door and 18-pane sash (with a 12-pane window at first floor to the left) provide access and light. The service wing's right side has five windows with similar segmental-headed sashes at ground floor; a 30-pane sash to the left lights the service stair, with a door as the second opening from the right. First and second floors have 12-pane sashes throughout. The rendered rear elevation of the main house features a round-headed sash with Y-tracery glazing bars lighting the entrance hall, and a 12-pane sash to the right. The first floor right has a 12-pane sash; to the left are a 16-pane sash and a twentieth-century sash. The service wing projects further to the left with five windows: 12-pane sashes with a glazed twentieth-century door at ground floor, and 15-pane sashes at first floor. A single-storey addition in granite ashlar with a hipped roof extends to the rear of the service wing, now used as garages.

The central entrance hall features an arched vault leading to a rear stairwell. The stairwell is oval in plan with an open-well stair featuring an open string, wreathed handrail, and stick balusters. Above sits a rectangular lantern with swagged plasterwork. The room to the front right contains a coloured marble chimneypiece, plain cornice, and shutters to the windows. The room to the front left has a false door to the front for symmetry with the door to the right-hand room, and a rear six-panelled door; it retains a later nineteenth-century marble chimneypiece with cornice detailed with wheatear and rose ornaments. Panelled double doors connect to the rear left room, which shares the same cornice treatment and a Regency-style marble chimneypiece. In the service wing, cellar rooms are vaulted. The remainder of the interior was not inspected during listing.

Some later alterations have been made; the house underwent modifications beyond its original construction date.