St Just

SX 9293 PENNSYLVANIA ROAD 871/12/10107 (East side) 23-JUN-00 St Just

II

Large detached town house, now offices. 1887 (datestone). Brick and timber-framed with some tile-hanging; peg-tile roof; stacks with brick shafts, some with very tall shafts and corbelled cornices; original cast iron rainwater goods. Free Vernacular Revival style. Plan: Approximately rectangular on plan with the entrance on Hillsborough Avenue. Exterior: 2 & 3 storeys. Very unaltered externally and rich in detail. 3-bay entrance elevation facing Hillsborough Avenue, the right hand bay with a jettied timber-framed gable with deep verges with ornamental bargeboards to the 2nd floor. Projecting lateral stack to the left hand bay with convex corbelled shoulders. Recessed porch in centre bay with a lean-to roof supported on a 2-bay asymmetrical arcade. Front door to right under porch with geometric sunk panels and glazing bars to overlight and stained glass in side panels. The right hand bay has a 2-tier bay window with tile hanging with ornamental bands between the windows. Glazing pattern is of high-transomed casements, the detail in the upper lights varying from floor to floor - geometric with a central square on the ground floor; geometric with a central lozenge on he first floor and small square panes on the 2nd floor. Paired one-light windows in the chimneystack, 2nd floor, follow the same pattern. The garden elevation, facing Pennsylvania Road is also 3 bay, the left hand bay 2-storeys and set back. The main block has 2 2-tier canted bays with moulded brick corbels and pediments with a blind segmental-headed recess on the ground floor in the centre. Tile-hanging between the windows and to the second floor which is jettied on shaped brackets and has 2 gables to the front with deep ornamental bargeboards and herringbone framing in the gable. Ground & first floor windows glazed as on entrance elevation; 2nd floor windows are small-pane variants on the Ipswich window. The rear elevation has a lateral stack to the left and a pair of large stair windows in the centre bay. The lower window is 4-light and high-transomed and glazed with stained glass, with a panel of tile-hanging above and, above that, a small-pane window in a round-headed frame. The right hand bay has a first floor oriel on shaped brackets and a 3-light window above with a dormer-style gable. 2-storey service wing beyond is plainer. INTERIOR: Partially inspected. Interior very complete including plaster cornices and doors, now with fire protection panels. Good staircase with slender turned balusters with scallop shell detail; stained glass in stair window includes initials. Panelling and other joinery survives. Historical Note: St Just was built by the Brock family, who owned a furniture emporium in Exeter on the corner of North Street & Fore Street (information from the owners of St Just). This is an exceptionally richly-detailed & very complete Vernacular Revival House.

Listing NGR: SX9244893471