Pytte House

Pytte House, Clyst St George

A house divided into six tenements, representing a complex building history spanning from at least the late 16th century to the mid-20th century. The core of the building dates to the late 18th or early 19th century, possibly with earlier origins, though it is doubtful whether fabric from a late 16th-century house survives. The structure was substantially remodelled and extended in 1911 by architect S Gambier Parry for Anthony Gibbs, who articled under Sir Arthur Blomfield. The house was subsequently divided into six tenements in the mid to late 20th century.

The building is rendered brick with earlier parts rendered in probably stone or cob. It has a plain tile roof with gabled ends and deep sprocketted eaves. The tall ashlar stacks at the end of the ridge have moulded cornices.

The exterior demonstrates vernacular revival styling from the 1911 remodelling. The front elevation is approximately six windows wide, asymmetrical and two storeys with attic accommodation. A short projecting wing projects at the left end, featuring a two-storey canted bay with large mullion-transom windows and a gable above containing a small four-light attic window. To the right of centre stands a smaller gabled projection with two gabled dormers to the right and one to the left. All gables are decorated with small rectangular or diamond-shaped panels containing terracotta circles. The windows throughout are variously proportioned, all retaining their original oak mullion and transomed frames with leaded panes; some ground floor windows are glazed garden doors. A wing set back at the left end has a gable to the right and a large two-storey canted bay window to the left. The right hand entrance side incorporates an earlier wing, possibly late 18th or early 19th-century, with two large twelve-pane sashes. The central porch has a timber-frame gable and round arch; the inner door retains wrought iron hinges, one inscribed "A G 1900". The irregular rear elevation contains a long late 19th-century service wing to the right (west), with altered late 18th or early 19th-century parts at the centre and left, some retaining circa early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes.

The interior was substantially altered during conversion into tenements. The early 20th-century open-well staircase at the east end remains, with turned balusters. A room in front retains a Tudor-style stone fireplace.

Pytte was the seat of the Gibb family. John Gibb purchased it in 1560 from Thomas, Lord Wentworth, and it remained with the Gibbs family until the 20th century, when Anthony Gibbs commissioned its major enlargement and remodelling in 1911.