Heavitree Social Centre

Heavitree Social Centre is a large house that has been converted into a local social centre. It dates from the late 1820s and has undergone some alterations over the years. Originally known as Wingfield Park and later 'The Knoll', the building features mass wall construction that is stuccoed and blocked out, topped with a hipped slate roof. It has red brick chimney shafts with decorative bands and round tapering terracotta chimney pots, along with Greek architectural details on the front.

The building has an asymmetrical plan, with the main entrance located on the west side. The prominent north garden front is notable, and the rooms are heated by axial and front lateral chimney stacks. The exterior consists of two storeys with deep boxed eaves supported by paired brackets. The symmetrical three-bay north front has an eaves band and clasping pilasters with sunk panels on either side of the central bay. The outer ground floor features 16-pane sash windows framed by pilasters with sunk panels and anthemion, topped with stucco pediments. There is a blind recess in the centre with a small later window inserted, and the first floor also has 16-pane sashes.

The entrance elevation is asymmetrical and positioned at right angles to the road, featuring a three-sided porch that connects to a rear wing. The porch has a slate roof that extends as a pentice on slender columns, and it includes a two-panel recessed door within a timber doorcase, flanked by small-pane windows. Canted bay windows, which have been reglazed, are located to the left and right of the porch, and some first-floor windows are hornless sashes.

Inside, there is a dog leg staircase with a wreathed handrail and square moulded balusters. Historically, this house is situated in the former Heavitree Park, which was established on land leased to Edward Eardley, a china merchant from Exeter. The lease stipulated that he build houses and out-buildings of brick and stone, rather than cob, and by 1829 he had constructed five houses in the area, including this one.