Tresco Abbey

Tresco Abbey is a country house on the Scilly Isles, mostly built in 1843 and 1861 with a tower added in 1891. It was built for Augustus Smith and his nephew Thomas Algernon Dorrien Smith, who served as Lord Proprietors of the islands. The building is constructed of roughly coursed granite with ashlar dressings, slate roofs, and granite ashlar stacks.

The house has a complex evolved plan comprising a main square block with an east tower, a west wing, and a south-west wing, rising to 2 and 3 storeys. The north elevation is the principal façade, featuring a 3-storey entrance bay positioned between the main block and west wing. Above the chamfered 4-centred arched doorway is a monogram reading "AS" with the date 1843. The entrance bay is flanked to the right by a slender 3-storey tower with small windows, a corbelled-out parapet, and a pyramidal roof, and to the left by a canted 3-storey bay with a similar corbelled parapet. Both the entrance bay and canted bay have chamfered surrounds and 2-light mullioned windows. An oriel window of 1851 sits further to the right.

The rear courtyard elevation has corbelled lintels over a doorway and 2/2-pane sashes on the 3-storey left-hand (east) elevation. This side includes a canted bay brought forward to the rear with a 4-light mullioned window set in a corbelled parapet above a recessed bay. A monogram "AS" and the date 1861 appear above a 2-light chamfered mullioned window set over a 4-centred arched doorway. The south-west wing, flanking the south side of the courtyard, features similar windows. The south-east elevation of the south-west range displays glazing-bar sashes set in corbelled-out parapets and large mullioned plate-glass windows.

The main south-facing range has a 2-storey 5-bay elevation with flanking projecting gables of different sizes framing a central bay containing mullioned plate-glass windows and corbelled lintels over casement windows. Similar windows appear on other elevations. The 4-storey east tower has corbelled lintels over mullioned windows and a corbelled-out parapet.

The interior features stone flag floors, granite chimneypieces, and panelled doors set in chamfered architraves. A stick-baluster staircase is a notable feature. The Dining Room, mostly completed by 1864, has a canted roof with timber muntins and rails. Chamfered pointed arches frame a cast-iron stove. The room retains Chinese wallpapers brought to England by Augustus Smith's grandfather, Samuel Smith, a merchant with Oriental connections. A doorway leads to the Library, which also has a canted roof and similar wallpapers and adjoins a small picture gallery with maps affixed to the walls. A sitting room with Italianate pastoral scenes set in architraves opens from the gallery. The tower contains a panelled ground-floor room with a granite chimneypiece.

The house overlooks tropical gardens created by Augustus Smith and Thomas Algernon Dorrien Smith. Augustus Smith arrived on the Scilly Isles in 1834 and transformed the islands from considerable poverty. He made education compulsory, built churches and other public buildings, and increased prosperity through agricultural and commercial improvements, notably by introducing the flower industry. He was succeeded by his nephew Thomas Algernon, who continued his work, particularly developing the flower industry further. Thomas Algernon was also an amateur architect responsible for the church on Tresco and the Post Office in Hugh Town.