Longcause House

Longcause House

House built in 1823 or 1825, said to have been designed by J Brown of Exeter. The building stands on the site of Longcause Barracks (1794), constructed on the foundations of the officers' mess.

The exterior is rendered stuccoed stone rubble with a simple spare slate hipped roof with sprocketed eaves overhanging on paired brackets. Over the centre of the ridge sits a hexagonal timber bellcote with a tent-shaped lead or zinc roof, topped with a ball finial and weather vane. Rendered chimney stacks are positioned one on the right (north east) side and two to the left of the ridge; each has three octagonal shafts with short yellow clay pots.

The house is two storeys tall with a rectangular plan, three rooms deep. The south east front is symmetrical with three bays and features large original 12-pane sash windows, with the ground floor cills almost at ground level. A wide central doorway has a moulded doorframe and hall glazed double doors with a pattern of margin and arched glazing bars and bottom panels, framed by a wide portico with two pairs of rendered Doric columns and pilasters supporting an entablature with a moulded cornice.

The south west garden front (left hand return) is longer with wider spaced three bays of similar sash windows but no doorway. The right hand return (north east side) has irregular fenestration with 12-pane sashes on ground and first floor to the left of centre and a tall central round-arched stair window with glazing bars radiating at the top. A 20th-century garage adjoins the right side. The rear (north west) has three bays with smaller 12-pane first floor sash windows; the ground floor has blind segmental fanlights above and a central doorway with moulded doorframe with pilasters and flush-panel door with rectangular fanlight in a blind recess.

The interior is largely intact with most original joinery preserved, including doors and window shutters, and most original plasterwork survives. The hall has a five-groin vaulted plaster ceiling leading to the stairwell, which has an open-well stairs with stick balusters and weathered handrail, with an open string and shaped tread ends. The stairwell and landing ceilings have modillion cornices and elliptical arches with key-motif in the intrados.

The front right hand room has a moulded plaster cornice and frieze with Vitruvian scroll and a shallow elliptically arched recess in the rear wall. The front left hand room has a moulded plaster cornice with a fish-scale pattern frieze, moulded plaster ceiling centrepiece and round-headed niches either side of the fireplace. The chimney pieces in the front rooms have been replaced. The ground floor office has a plaster cornice with egg and dart pattern. The servant's hall behind has a simple moulded plaster cornice. The kitchen contains a 19th-century iron range. Cellars with brick groin vaults are accessed via stairs in the kitchen.