Paradise

Paradise is a house built around 1820 for Richard Benoke. It is constructed of slate stone rubble, with render likely replacing stucco on the front elevation and slate hung on the rear. The roof is slate, with hipped ends and overhanging eaves, and features five diagonally set brick axial chimney stacks. The house has a double-depth plan, featuring a central through passage with two main reception rooms at the front and two smaller service rooms to the rear. Front and rear rooms are heated by back-to-back fireplaces. A staircase is located on the left-hand side of the passage. A basement and single-storey outbuildings at the rear contain further service rooms, including a dairy and wash-house. A 20th-century extension is present at the rear.

The house is two storeys high, with a basement, and has a symmetrical three-window front. Original 12-pane hornless sash windows with crown glass are present throughout; those on the ground floor overlook a basement and are accessed by stone steps leading up to a central entrance with a 19th-century open porch featuring unfluted columns and a moulded cornice. A 19th-century part-glazed 6-panel door is set within the entrance. Flanking the entrance are canted bay windows with hornless sashes. The first floor also features three 12-pane hornless sashes.

The interior is largely intact. The entrance hall has a moulded plaster cornice with a floral trail and a hall arch. The left-hand room has a removed chimney-piece, while the right-hand room retains a 19th-century marble chimney piece and an early 19th-century reeded plaster cornice. The early 19th-century open-string staircase was remodelled in the mid-20th century when the rail was renewed. Original doors, doorcases, and slate flag floors remain largely complete.

Paradise was built for Richard Benoke around 1820, possibly as the manor house, following the demolition of an earlier house which likely stood on the west side of Fore Street, north of the Napoleon Inn. Benoke was soon forced to sell, and the house was purchased by Mr. William Cole. Paradise is a well-preserved early 19th-century house comparable to Orchard House and Targon, Gunpool Lane, Boscastle, and Trafalgar in Lesnewth parish.