Lantern House Watcombe Lodge

This is a villa, built around 1860, originally divided into two dwellings. It is located on Teignmouth Road, Watcombe, Torquay.

The villa is approximately rectangular in plan, with an entrance on the west side leading into a corridor where a staircase rises. The original rear (north) service wing has been separated and is now a separate house.

The exterior is asymmetrical with a hipped slate roof and stacks with rendered shafts and projecting cornices. The front has a projecting canted porch with a round-headed doorway containing a panelled double door topped with a fanlight featuring glazing bars and stained glass. A single-story canted bay is to the right, topped with a parapet and housing four-pane sashes. To the left are two windows per floor, incorporating sill blocks and four-pane sashes. The right return elevation features two two-story canted bays with four-pane sashes. A lead tented canopy, supported by cast-iron brackets, projects over the ground floor windows. The east elevation has a 2:3 window arrangement. The main block has segmental-headed first-floor windows, including a tripartite window and a canted bay on the ground floor to the left. The right-hand service wing has a three-window front and a central gable. Windows are likely original 12-pane sashes with sill blocks. A fine, 13-bay conservatory extends across the front, canted at each end, with round-headed lights and end pinnacles topped with lead finials; adjustable vents run along the ridge.

The interior retains moulded plaster cornices, original joinery, including a staircase with turned balusters, and local marble fireplaces.