Parkfield Inlcuding Walls To Walled Garden To North

Parkfield, including walls to walled garden to the north

House, including walls to walled garden. Owned by Torbay Borough Council and disused at the time of survey. Probably dating from the 1820s with alterations made around the 1860s.

The building is constructed of stuccoed and blocked stonework. The roof is partly slate and partly clad in corrugated asbestos. The chimneys have rendered shafts with platbands and some original pots.

The plan consists of a main range of approximately double depth, with the garden elevation facing south and the entrance on the west side leading into a passage. The stairs rise to the rear, with service rooms to the rear right (northeast) and a service yard at the east end. The eastern block of the main range probably dates from the 1820s, while the western section is either a later addition or a remodelling.

The exterior is 2 and 3 storeys high, with single-storey service rooms at the right end. The garden front is asymmetrical with a 3:1:2-window arrangement and deep eaves. Two gables project to the front with a garden door in a set-back block between them; a secondary lean-to extends at the right end. The right-hand gabled block features left and right pilasters with sunk panels and a panelled verge band. Platbands run at first and second-floor levels, with a stuccoed anthemion motif in the gable. Two ground-floor windows have eared moulded surrounds and are glazed with 2-pane sashes. Two first-floor French windows with margin panes are fitted with stuccoed Tudor-style hoodmoulds and open onto a fine cast-iron verandah. The second-floor window has an ogival head and curly ogival hoodmould, glazed with a 16-pane sash with margin panes in the head. A recessed central bay contains a 19th-century half-glazed garden door with overlight below a 12-pane sash. The left-hand block has platbands at second-floor level and above the lintels of the second-floor windows, creating a pedimented effect to the shallow gable. Three ground-floor French windows have moulded stuccoed surrounds and cornices. The lean-to block at the right end is set back with a hipped roof to the front, featuring a segmental-headed Edwardian timber verandah and an early 19th-century six-panel door. The entrance front to the west has a 2-window elevation with deep eaves and an eaves band; a platband runs at first-floor sill level. A projecting entrance bay in the centre has a pedimented gable and a segmental-headed pilastered outer doorway with cornice over. The internal porch has a tiled floor and a late 19th-century half-glazed two-leaf front door with a reeded doorcase. To the right is a shallow projecting stack. To the left of the front door is a 19th-century shallow gabled conservatory with iron cresting on the ridge and below the gable, accessed by a French window with a 12-pane sash to the first floor. A single-storey block at the left end probably dates from the later 19th century. The rear elevation includes one ogival-headed window matching that on the front. Local red breccia walls enclose the walled garden to the rear (north) of the house.

The interior remains very unaltered since about 1900 and incorporates earlier features. Joinery is intact throughout, including doors, skirtings and shutters. The entrance hall has a mosaic floor and a modillion plaster cornice to the entrance and stair hall on both floors. The staircase dates from around the 1860s and features turned balusters and a ramped wreathed mahogany handrail. The stair window is filled with good quality early 20th-century stained glass. The principal rooms on the first and second floors preserve plaster cornices, skirtings and Italian marble and local polished limestone chimneypieces, mostly from the 1860s. The dining room at the east end of the main range was refurbished around 1900 with timber panelling, a moulded cornice and a serving hatch from the service corridor. Smaller first and second-floor rooms preserve 19th-century moulded timber chimneypieces. The principal rooms include a rare series of early 20th-century light fittings and lampshades. The service rooms are a remarkable survival, some with flag floors and retaining their original fittings and fixtures, including cupboards, sinks with drainers and others. Most service rooms and their fittings retain grained paintwork. The service rooms open off an axial service passage with a back door to the service yard and include a housekeeper's room, a kitchen complete with a large cast-iron range stamped T L Harding and Sons, Torquay, and early 20th-century storage cupboards. The pantry and dairy are also complete, with the dairy featuring slate shelves and a slatted cupboard. Other unusual survivals include a first-floor bathroom with a boxed cast-iron bath and a lavatory with an early 20th-century boarded Shanks cistern with a top-mounted flush.

The house was the home of Arthur Hyde Dendy, a Birmingham barrister and entrepreneur and one of the principal developers of 19th-century Paignton. Dendy designed and supervised the construction of the pier, opened and built hotels and theatres, developed land and, in 1883, provided a cycling track which was said to be the best in the country. The corrugated asbestos on part of the roof is said to represent an exceptionally early use of this material. The family at Parkfield are said to have been involved in the manufacture of asbestos sheeting. At the time of survey, this was an exceptional house, remarkable not for the outstanding quality of its interior features, but for the rarity of its completeness, remaining unaltered since about 1900.