Altamira Combecote Combecote, Altamira And Attached Gateway

Large house, now divided into two parts. Mid to late 18th century, with superficial modernisation in the 1840s and further modernisation and extension from around the 1860s. According to the owners it was formerly the town house of the Newman family. The building is constructed of plastered stone rubble, with exposed rubble to the rear. It has end, axial and rear lateral stacks with plastered brick chimneyshafts, some with pots. The roof is slate with alternate crested ridge tiles.

The plan consists of two parallel ranges, two rooms wide with a central cross passage and double-depth plan. During the 1840s superficial modernisation, and then around the 1860s, the right end was substantially altered. The principal parlour was enlarged and given an extension with an end stack. A new entrance was created at this end with a porch positioned behind the parlour extension. The stairwell was enlarged and refurbished to create an impressive entrance hall. The old back doorway to the passage was reduced to service use.

Externally, the house has two storeys with attics and a five-to-three-window garden front. The left five-window section is the 18th-century house as modernised in the 1840s, with all windows being horned sashes without glazing bars, dating from the 1860s or later. All first-floor windows have stucco Tudor-style hoodmoulds. A central round-headed doorway with a simple pedimented flat stucco surround contains a recessed 20th-century part-glazed door under a plain fanlight. There is a plat band at first-floor level and a moulded eaves cornice to the parapet. Twin roofs are gable-ended with tall coping.

The front right end three-window section dates from the 1860s and features a canted bay containing sashes without glazing bars, with the front ground-floor one being full height. A stucco plat band with moulded cornice marks the first-floor level, and the first-floor windows have a continuous sill interrupting a moulded string course. Above these, Tudor arches rise into a flat eaves band. The same style continues round the right end to the entrance porch, which has large double two-panel doors under an overlight. Windows throughout have shallow hoodmoulds, including triangular-headed windows in the end gables.

The rear wall facing the street includes a round-headed 18th-century doorway to the passage. This has a timber doorcase with pilasters to fluted brackets carrying an open-pediment hood, and contains a part-glazed six-panel door under a plain fanlight. There are also some horned twelve-pane sashes. The rear doorway is now accessed from a service courtyard enclosed by low service buildings.

The interior contains a great deal of 18th and 19th-century detail. The 1860s entrance hall is floored with a chequer pattern of red and black tiles. A large open-well stair, top-lit by a cupola containing some coloured glass, has large newel posts with truncated pyramid finials and turned balusters. The main parlour on the front right has an 18th-century Adam-style chimneypiece, and an arch has been knocked through to the 19th-century extension, supported on large columns of red marble with grey marble bases and capitals. The plaster cornice is consistent throughout the front rooms and may be 18th century. Other 18th and 19th-century joinery and features are found throughout the house. The roof was not inspected.

A front gateway, probably dating from the 1860s phase, comprises a stone rubble boundary wall to the street, plastered as it curves and ramps up to square-section gate piers with pineapple finials.