Freemasons Lodge Of St John

TORQUAY

SX9163 PARK HILL ROAD 885-1/17/209 (East side) 21/01/85 Freemasons Lodge of St John

GV II

Freemason's Lodge of St John. 1857 (dated rainwater head), to the designs of Edward Appleton. Snecked local grey limestone with polychromatic brick and Bathstone dressings; slate roof with lead rolls and ventilation pot (flache missing); stone stack with stone shaft. Venetian Gothic style. PLAN: Built into the side of Vane Hill. Tall 3-bay block to the north, originally arranged as the meeting room and library of the Torquay Natural History Society; masonic hall above. Lower roofed block to the south includes doorway in a canted corner, former robing room and staircase. EXTERIOR: 3-bay main block with fancy moulded brick corbels under the eaves. Three 3-light windows, each light trefoil-headed with brick banding, divided by shafts. The windows are in chamfered 2-centred arched recesses with polychromatic detail in the tympanum. 3 corbelled dormers, the outer ones with 2-light windows matching those below. Central dormer with battered sides. Masonic symbols in gables. 2-centred triple-chamfered doorway in canted corner with a brick arch and shafts. Original stone porch hood on brackets; 2-light window over matching the others, 2 one-light trefoil-headed windows to left of porch. The left return has a stone Star of David window, the right return has an upper doorway (converted from a window) reached by a bridge from the steps up to Vane Hill. INTERIOR: Open roof to masonic lodge (1985 list description). Access to interior unobtainable. A handsome, roguish example of Venetian Gothic Revival.

Listing NGR: SX9199363345