Grosvenor House

Grosvenor House, New Road, Lower Brixham

A mirrored pair of houses designed to appear as a single large building, dating from the early to mid-19th century with late 19th-century additions. The houses are constructed with solid rendered walls, with slate-hanging visible on the exposed part of the left side wall. The roof is hipped and slated, reportedly with a centre valley, and has rendered chimneys on each gable-end and in the centre valley.

The building is three storeys tall and four windows wide, with the middle windows narrower and positioned close together. Between them on each of the two upper storeys is a round-headed semicircular niche. Paired segmental-headed doorways with reveals contain single long panels on each side, and the doors themselves have two matching long panels with wreath knockers. A single large porch fronts both doorways, supported on fluted Doric columns that carry a flat hood design as an entablature; the soffits of beams resting on the columns are panelled.

Each ground storey features a flat-topped canted bay of different design. At No.1 the bay is wood-framed with reeded frames above a solid base, while at No.3 it is solid-walled with plain sashes and a moulded top-cornice. The upper-storey windows are small-paned: 6 over 6 panes, except at No.1 where the third-storey windows have 3 over 6 panes, with pane widths adjusted to match the openings. A raised band runs just below sill-level in the second storey. A panelled pilaster-strip with incised key-pattern runs up the left side of the house; the lower part has been altered, probably when an adjoining house was built against it. Deep, flat eaves-cornices occur on all four sides, except where butted by the adjoining house. The rear wall has small-paned sashes: 12 over 12 panes in the ground and second storeys, 8 over 8 panes in the third storey, and 6 over 6 panes in stair windows. The right side wall contains a blind window in each of the second and third storeys, and a small metal-framed window in the ground storey.

Internally, both houses contain wooden geometric stairs with thin square balusters and shaped step-ends. At No.1 the balustrade is lower with a boxed-in portion, while at No.3 it is scrolled at the foot. Both entrance passages and stair halls are stone-flagged. At No.1 the ground-floor front room has a moulded cornice with enriched ceiling band; the rear room has panelled shutters. The right-hand first-floor front room has a moulded cornice; the rear room has panelled cupboards. A closet (now converted to a water closet) on the first half-landing of the stair has an original door with one tall panel. A similar two-panelled door is situated on the second-floor landing.

At No.3 the entrance passage has a lobby with moulded cornice and a two-panelled door like that at No.1 leading into the front room, with another such door between front and back rooms. The front room has a moulded cornice with enriched ceiling band. A wooden chimneypiece, possibly late 19th-century, features a bracketed shelf and moulded jambs. The rear room has panelled shutters and panelled cupboards, with a one-panel door to a rear closet. The first-floor half-landing has a one-panel closet door similar to that at No.1, and three two-panel doors on the full landing. The first-floor front room has a moulded cornice and a wooden chimneypiece, probably original, with moulded surround. The rear room has a panelled cupboard. The second-floor landing has three two-panel doors.