The Headmaster's House

SX4855 740-1/43/245

PLYMOUTH FORD PARK, The Headmaster's House

GV II Pair of villas in planned group, now part of Plymouth College. c1850s-60s, probably by George Wightwick. Stucco with channelled rustication to plinth; asbestos slate roofs: central roof behind stuccoed balustraded parapet with modillioned cornices and flanking roofs with pedimented front gables with central acroteria; six stuccoed panelled end and axial stacks with moulded cornices. Italianate style. Articulated double-depth plan.

EXTERIOR: two storeys plus flanking three-storey cross wings broken forward and two-storey porches set back at left and right. The left-hand porch later heightened to three storeys; symmetrical 1:2:3:2:1-bay front. Pediments with round central panels and triangular flanking panels over giant panelled pilasters on vermiculated rusticated pilasters with moulded cornices to ground floor. Late C19 horned sashes within moulded architraves: round-arched and keyed to second floor, eared to first floor and with hoods on consoles to ground floor. Recessed central bays have tripartite windows to ground floor and central mid-floor niche with moulded hood and sill on brackets. Porches have keyed ordered round arches and panelled pilasters; plain glazed fanlights and C20 doors.

INTERIOR: not inspected but likely to be of interest.

Part of a "well-preserved L-shaped layout of particularly lavish mid C19 villas with busy Italianate stucco detail" (Pevsner).

Listing NGR: SX4822055918