Wheal Betsy

Wheal Betsy

A house built between 1909 and 1911 by the architect Arnold Bidlake Mitchell for the artist Thomas Cooper Gotch. The building is constructed of locally-quarried granite with Delabole slate hanging to the first floor and window bays, and a Delabole scantle-slate roof. Brick stacks, rendered, have terracotta pots. Windows are mainly timber casements.

The house has a backward L-shaped footprint with an irregular plan. The principal entrance is central on the east elevation. The main range runs to the east, with a smaller wing containing bedrooms and kitchen to the west. A late 20th-century conservatory fills the angle of the L, and there is a further small extension to the rear.

The exterior is built over two storeys with a half basement and attics. The granite is coursed with worked quoins. The first floor and window bays are hung with wet-laid Delabole slate, slightly swept at each storey. The roof is hipped with two hipped gables on the west side, sweeping down to deep eaves over the main range.

The principal elevation faces east and comprises three bays north to south. The northern bay rises three storeys as the sloping site allows for a basement. The north and south bays project and have five timber-framed casements on each floor; each has eight panes to the ground floor and six panes to the first floor and basement, with a further window on the bays' returns. The central bay contains a porch with a hipped Delabole slate roof. Small-paned glazing wraps around the porch and upper part of the front door, which has a framed panel below and brass door furniture. To the right of the porch is an eight-pane window, and two two-casement windows each with six panes are positioned above. The south elevation shows the side of the front range with a kitchen and bedroom wing set back at the north end. The angle between them is filled with a single-storey late 20th-century conservatory. The main range has a window at each floor with three casements of 24 small-paned windows; the rear wing has an identical window to the first floor. The west (rear) elevation features a two-span hipped roof with a flat-roofed dormer between on the main roof slope to light the stairwell. Windows here are 20th-century double-glazed replacements approximating historic fenestration. On the left is a 20th-century single-storey slate-hung extension with a monopitch roof. The north elevation has two eight-pane casement windows to the first floor and a five-casement window with six panes each to the ground floor. The rear range has 20th-century replacement double-glazed windows to the first floor; below is a six-pane casement adjacent to the back entrance. This door has six panes above a match-boarded panel, with an identical door to the right and a 20th-century replacement window between them. The windows and doors on this elevation have substantial worked-granite dressings.

Interior

The main entrance comprises a square porch with a plain red tiled floor, leading through a mahogany fielded-panel door to the entrance and stair hall. From the hall, double mahogany doors with fielded panels and brass furniture, set within heavily-moulded architraves, lead to the parlour (south) and dining room (north). Two steps down to the west is a fireplace on the north wall with a moulded mantelpiece, green-glazed tile surround, copper hood, and grate. The principal open-well staircase to the south has square newel posts and stick balustrades with reeded detail.

The parlour to the south has a fireplace on the west wall with a grey lustre-glazed tile surround, moulded mantelpiece and over-mantel shelf. French double-doors with six panes in the upper part, set in a splayed opening, lead to a late 20th-century conservatory. The east-facing window has a shallow window seat. The dining room to the north is almost identical, with a smaller fireplace featuring a moulded mantelpiece, slate surround, and domed copper hood.

To the north of the dining room is the kitchen, accessed via the hallway. On the east side is a fireplace (formerly housing a range) with a bracketed timber mantelpiece and an adjacent cupboard with door and architrave. On the west side, a match-boarded door leads to a flight of granite steps; these were formerly external but now lead to a 20th-century entrance door within the 20th-century rear extension. To the west of the hallway are a small lobby (formerly the pantry) and a WC. The late 20th-century conservatory at the south-west corner incorporates the west external wall of a former sitting-out area, and a window to the north is now a doorway to a small corridor at the head of the basement stairs. The basement stairs have spandrel panelling with a heavily-moulded bracket on one side and newel posts and balustrades matching the main staircase. The main basement room has an exposed timber ceiling with chamfered beams and a fireplace to the west with a green-glazed tile surround and arched opening. To the west are small ancillary rooms, including a bathroom.

From the hallway the main staircase rises to a quarter landing with further stairs up to rooms to the east: a bathroom (formerly a dressing room), main bedroom, and a further bedroom. The bathroom retains high-level timber shelving and hooks on the south wall, formerly framing a door to the master bedroom. The master bedroom has a fireplace on the west side with a blue-glazed tile surround, copper hood and moulded mantelpiece. On the north side are three fitted wardrobes which are late 20th-century replicas of others elsewhere in the house, with a further fitted cupboard to the left of the door. The second bedroom on the east side has a fireplace to the west with a teal-glazed tile surround and moulded mantelpiece. To the north is a range of contemporary cupboards. The north-west bedroom across the landing to the rear has a fireplace on the south side with beige tiles. The fourth bedroom, at the south-west corner, has four fitted cupboards on the north wall and a fireplace with teal tiles on the south side. A late 20th-century flight of stairs replicating the historic pattern leads up to a single large attic space with exposed rafters and late 20th-century rooflights at the north and south ends.

Most rooms have a simply-moulded picture rail close to the ceiling and tall skirting boards. Doors have two panels and are set in heavily-moulded architraves with brass furniture. Floors are of polished red Norway spruce boards. Window catches and furniture are bronze and simple. The fireplaces in the house were supplied by Bratt Colbran and Co of London and are of 'The Heaped Fire' type.