Gramercy Hall School, Lupton House

Gramercy Hall School, Lupton House

A country house, formerly known as Lupton Hotel, now a school. The building dates from around 1772 and was remodelled around 1843 by George Wightwick. It was restored without its top storey following a fire in 1926.

The house has solid rendered walls and hipped slated roofs with rendered chimneys topped by prominent cornices. The plan is complex, comprising a front range with a large entrance hall flanked by main rooms, a long rear wing containing an entrance hall (believed to be the original main entrance) with a main room and library, a 1-room extension to the far right, and a long low wing to the left of the front range connected to a stable block by an archway. Behind the main entrance hall is a large top-lit room, possibly the site of the original staircase, with the present main staircase beyond it. A long kitchen wing runs at right-angles, with a range of coal-stores built into the hillside behind it, filled from hatches in the top.

The exterior shows 2 storeys with single-storey additions. The main front is 3 windows wide with a 10-window return to the right and a 4-window left wing. The principal facade features a centre porte-cochere with Doric columns, an entablature with a triglyphed frieze, modillioned cornice and patterned balustrade, and panelled double doors with an anthemion-patterned grille in front of the fanlight. Windows with 4-paned sashes flank the porte-cochere on the ground storey. On either side at ground level are Venetian windows with balustraded panels below, continuing the rail and plinth of the balustrade as a pedestal course across the whole front. These windows have 6-paned sashes with radial head-bars in the main light and 1 over 2-paned sashes with margin-panes in the side-lights. The upper storey contains a modified Venetian window in the centre with 6-paned sashes in all three lights and a segmental pediment over the flat-headed centre light. Outer windows on this level are single-light with moulded architraves, segmental pediments and 6-paned sashes, with balustrades and pedestal-course below. The front is finished with a stepped bandcourse, above which are 3 balustraded panels and a top cornice.

The return front to the right follows a similar style but has a slightly projecting centre and wings. A centre doorway features attached Doric columns, entablature and triangular pediment with a triglyphed frieze and paterae. The doorway itself is round-arched with a moulded archivolt and imposts, half-glazed double-doors and a scrolled iron grille in front of the fanlight. Flanking this are Venetian windows with stepped keystones to the centre arch and balustraded panels below. Single-light windows in the wings have moulded architraves and stepped keystones. Upper-storey windows feature moulded architraves; those in the wings have stepped keystones, whilst those in the centre and at either side have pulvinated friezes and pediments (triangular in the centre, segmental on the sides), with balustraded panels below. The centre window has consoles to the pediment and scroll buttresses to the architrave. A moulded top cornice and parapet with balustraded panels runs along the centre, with stepped cornices and similar parapets to the wings and cornices instead of copings.

The single-storey section to the right has 3 close-set windows flanked and separated by Ionic pilasters, with an entablature above surmounted by a parapet with balustraded panels. The whole front features small-paned sashes: 6 over 6 panes in the ground storey and 3 over 6 panes above. The left wing has Doric pilasters between and flanking the windows, with a top cornice and panelled parapet featuring pedestals corresponding to the pilasters. Segmental-headed ground-storey windows contain 8-paned sashes, whilst flat-headed upper-storey windows have 3-paned sashes. At the left-hand end is a tall projecting round-arched gateway with rusticated flanking pilasters, top cornice and blocking-course; the arch has a moulded archivolt and imposts. Small-paned sash windows are found at the rear. The coal stores feature tall round-arched openings with plain imposts.

The interior contains much good detail, particularly moulded plasterwork and chimneypieces with original iron grates, nearly all appearing to be from the 19th century. The main entrance hall features a screen of square pink and grey marble columns. A chimneypiece of matching marble has a cornice-shelf on consoles and a white marble cartouche in the centre of the frieze, with a round-arched iron grate. A white marble statue of Lord Rolle, inscribed 'E. B. Stephens sculp. London 1843', depicts a seated figure on a pedestal.

Ground-floor rooms to the right of the hall and at the front of the wing have Adam-style ceilings and panelled shutters. A room in the wing contains a white marble rococo chimneypiece with patterned, coloured enamelled panels on the jambs and a basket-grate with an enriched iron fireback. The library features a screen with paired scagliola Ionic columns. At each end are green marble chimneypieces with key-pattern friezes and shelves on paired brackets, with enriched surrounds to the iron grates (the baskets are missing). The ceiling is decorated with a modillioned cornice. An open-well wood staircase has carved balusters and newels. Other ground- and first-floor rooms contain good detail, although the main rooms all appear to have been on the ground floor.

Lupton House is said to have been rebuilt by Charles Mayne Esq, who was sheriff in 1772. He sold it to Sir Francis Buller, ancestor of Lord Churston, around 1788. White's Directory of Devonshire, 1878–9, states the house was 'rebuilt about thirty-five years ago'.