Riversvale

House, now offices of North Devon Health Authority. Built in 1839 with a mid-19th-century addition on the right-hand side. The walls are solid rendered surfaces, probably of stone or brick. Hipped, slated roofs top the structure, with plain rendered chimneys asymmetrically placed and rebuilt tops.

The main house is double-fronted, three rooms deep, with a central entrance passage leading to the main staircase at the rear. Back stairs occupy the position of the right-hand middle room. The mid-19th-century addition comprises a wing at the front and a separate wing at the rear, each probably containing only one or two rooms per floor.

The building rises two storeys with a semi-basement; the front wing of the mid-19th-century addition has three storeys within the same overall height. The entrance front faces south and is a three-window range, with the centre window set in a slight projection. The rusticated basement contains a segmental-headed window to the left and a flat-headed window to the right, both with 20th-century casements. Ground and second-storey windows feature barred sashes of six panes, except for nine-paned lower sashes in the ground storey. A central entrance porch is articulated with coupled Greek Doric pilasters and entablature. Balustraded stone steps front the entrance, now with a concrete balustrade. The door is four-panelled with an adjoining four-panelled section to the left that appears to be merely a screen. Flanking panelled pilasters flank both storeys. A deeply projecting eaves cornice crowns the front.

The left side wall, partly visible from Taw Vale and the riverside, has been altered but retains original barred sashes in the ground storey. The upper storey features a balcony with an ornate wrought-iron balustrade.

The rear wall, partly visible from Taw Vale and Litchdon Street, contains small-paned windows, including a tall round-arched stair window with coloured glass in the margin-panes. The mid-19th-century addition presents a two-window range where it adjoins the entrance front, with segmental-headed windows featuring moulded imposts and keyblocks, and plain sashes. An entablature sits at second-floor level. Rusticated quoins appear in the second and third storeys. A top entablature and blocking-course finish this elevation.

The return front to Litchdon Street is plainer in character but includes a pair of similar windows in the third storey and a bracketed eaves cornice. An addition to the rear of this elevation has, facing Litchdon Street, a projecting three-light window with a triangular pediment above.

The interior, as recorded in 1986, displays considerable decorative detail. The entrance lobby features a moulded ceiling with a circular panel enclosed within a square. A round-arched inner doorway has panelled pilasters, moulded archivolt and patterned fanlight; the door itself combines panels below with small-paned glazing above, the corner margin-panes glazed in colour. The passage and stair hall are enriched with dado-rails, modillion cornices and foliated chandelier bosses. Four-panelled doors throughout have moulded architraves. An open-well wooden staircase with shaped step-ends is fitted with a wrought-iron balustrade, voluted at the foot, with panels of scrollwork and honeysuckle. An original wooden back stair with thin, square-section balusters survives. The rooms appear to have been stripped of detail, though lowered ceilings may conceal original cornices and chandelier bosses.

An 1839 deed relating to No.22 Litchdon Street describes the house to the south (presumably this one) as "lately erected".