Penquite House

Penquite House

House, now youth hostel, dating to approximately 1840 with later alterations including 20th-century interior changes. The building is constructed of stuccoed stone rubble with slate roofs, hipped over the side ranges and gabled at front and rear, with lead rolls to hips and ridges and rendered stacks to the ridge lines.

The house follows a double-depth plan with a central entrance leading to a vestibule, a principal room to the right and service room to the left, a central stair hall, and two principal rooms with a kitchen facing the garden to the rear. Attached to the left side is a single-storey service block built around a narrow courtyard, containing former sculleries and wash house, with an entrance on the left side.

The front elevation is two storeys with a symmetrical arrangement of five windows, set on a granite plinth with deep moulded eaves. All windows are 19th-century 12-pane sashes in plain raised architraves, with a continuous cill band at first-floor level. The central feature is a pair of 3-panelled double doors with an overlight of decorative glazing, moulded architrave and pediment on consoles. A late 19th-century conservatory is attached at ground floor on the right side, with three gable ends and two tall plate-glass sashes providing access to it. A further plate-glass sash at ground floor to the right and a 12-pane sash to the left all sit within plain raised architraves matching those of the main windows.

The rear garden front comprises five bays, with the three centre bays breaking forward beneath a pediment with an oeil de boeuf window. Ground-floor windows here are 12-pane sashes except for a later plate-glass replacement on the left, and first-floor windows maintain the cill band and matching 12-pane sash pattern. The left side elevation features a first-floor cill band with three 12-pane sashes at that level.

The service block has a pitched roof curved at the corners, with a bellcote above the left-side entrance. The front face displays four 12-pane sashes separated by pilasters, a blind window on the curved wall section, and the left-side entrance comprises 3-panelled double doors with fist and wreath knocker, set within a round arch with panelled tympanum and gable above. A 12-pane sash sits to the right and left of this entrance, also with pilasters, and a gabled bellcote with bell sits above. The rear of the service block follows the same treatment with sashes and pilasters. Inside the service courtyard, granite paving surrounds the house, which features a central 12-pane sash at ground floor; service rooms have 16-pane sashes and 4-panelled doors facing onto the courtyard.

Interior

The cellars beneath the main stair hall are brick vaulted with square piers featuring imposts. The central stair hall contains a cornice with palmette, egg-and-dart and bead-and-reel mouldings, with a similar cornice at first-floor landing level and a rectangular lantern above. The stair itself is an open-well design with moulded wreathed handrail and cast iron balusters. The front entrance opens into a large vestibule with plain moulded cornice, panelled shutters and pelmet to its windows.

The central room on the garden front displays a marble chimneypiece on its rear wall with a cornice ornamented with vine leaves and bunches of grapes; windows are fitted with panelled shutters and pelmets with swags. The room to the right side of the garden front features an oak leaf and acorn frieze, moulded cornice and marble Regency-style chimneypiece on the inner wall, with shutters and pelmets to windows matching those in the central room. The front-right room has a plainer moulded cornice. Most doors were replaced in the late 20th century, though some original panelled doors survive.

Historical significance

Penquite was the home of John Whitehead Peard (1811–80), a colonel in the Royal Army of Savoy and known as "Garibaldi's Englishman". He joined Garibaldi's forces in 1859 and distinguished himself at the battle of Melazzo in 1860, commanding the English legion during Garibaldi's advance on Naples. When Garibaldi made his triumphant visit to England in 1864, he insisted on travelling to Cornwall to stay with Peard at Penquite.