Aylmer

Aylmer is a detached house dating from the early 19th century, situated on Milton Street in Higher Brixham. The house is constructed of solid rendered walls, with a hipped slate roof over the central block and flat roofs to the wings. Each end wall has a rendered chimney. The architectural style is Picturesque Gothic.

The main structure is three windows wide at the front, with wings projecting to either side. The ground floor windows have pointed, incurving arches with reeded imposts; the front door is similarly styled, though a late 20th-century replica. Each ground-floor window is fitted with a wood-framed French window, with four panes and margin panes. Transom lights with intersecting glazing bars are above each opening, with reeding at the base. The upper-storey windows closely resemble those below, featuring three-paned wood casements with margin panes. Panelled pilaster strips decorate each end of the front elevation. A deep flat eaves cornice, detailed with brackets and soffit panels, runs along the front. A trellised wood porch with a swept roof spans the front of the ground storey; this was rebuilt in 1988. Each wing features a semicircular niche with a round arch, containing urns on pedestals. Narrow projections flank each wing, with the left projection on the right wing notably taller, possibly indicating the wings were originally lower with shaped tops. The rear wall has windows similar to those at the front, although many soffit panels are missing.

The interior includes an entrance passage with a groined vault, divided by reeded arches. Moulded door frames, with floral details in the upper corners, are complemented by six-panelled doors with raised panels. A cantilevered wood staircase features treads with moulded closings extending to the soffit, thin square balusters, and a voluted handrail. A moulded cornice and coved ceiling adorn the stair compartment, with panelled shutters to the stair windows. The first-floor gallery rail is bowed. The right-hand ground-storey room has a moulded coved cornice and panelled shutters to both the front and rear. It contains a 19th/20th-century wood chimneypiece with patterned tiles and an iron grate. The left-hand ground-storey room also features a coved moulded cornice and panelled shutters. The kitchen retains its original segmental-headed dresser with moulded shelves, alongside panelled cupboards with raised moulding. An upper-floor lobby features a groined vault, similar door frames and four-panelled doors. The three principal upper rooms have moulded cornices, with the middle room featuring a coved cornice.

A particularly fine example of its type, Aylmer was constructed for the Gillard family and is considered the best of a group of similar houses in Brixham, including Eveleigh House, Doctors Road, Burton Villa, Burton Street, and Norton House, Milton Street.