Southern House

Southern House

This is a substantial house built circa 1869 to 1870, constructed in stuccoed stone rubble with a dry hipped slate roof featuring lead rolls to the hips and ridge. The deeply overhanging eaves are finished with a moulded cornice to the soffit, and rendered axial stacks rise to the left and right of the ridge.

The house follows a square double-depth plan with a central entrance hall containing the stairwell positioned towards the back left. The front rooms comprise a drawing room to the left and dining room to the right, with a kitchen to the rear right from which a servants' stair rises. A servants' room occupies the rear left. Behind the stairwell lies a scullery, and to the left of the servants' room is a small single-storey wing containing a dairy on the ground floor with stairs to a chamber above, which has no first floor access to the main house. Cellars exist only beneath the front section. A verandah across the front is probably a later 19th-century addition.

The exterior presents two storeys with a symmetrical three-window range. All windows are set within moulded stuccoed architraves with moulded cills. Rusticated angle quoins, a plinth, moulded eaves cornice and a band at first floor level with bead moulding characterise the elevation. The left and right windows on the first floor are 19th-century tripartite sashes with horizontal glazing bars. The centre first floor window contains two round-headed lights with moulded architraves and two 19th-century sashes with horizontal glazing bars. The central doorway features a moulded architrave, a large rectangular fanlight with stained glass margin panes, and a large 19th-century four-panel field door.

A later 19th-century verandah extends across the front, featuring a scalloped zinc valance, slender cast iron posts, and a later corrugated asbestos roof. The centre section is glazed to form a porch.

The left and right returns (west and east sides) are symmetrical with two windows each. Those lighting the front rooms are blind, while those serving the back rooms contain 12-pane sashes, all within moulded architraves matching those at the front. The rear elevation displays a symmetrical arrangement of 19th-century casements, a large rectangular fixed light window lighting the stairs at the centre, and a flush panel door to the left serving the kitchen. A short gable-ended wing extends to the right, and a single-storey wing with a lean-to roof stands to the left. A later lean-to outshut was added between the two wings.

The interior retains significant period detail. The right-hand front room features a white marble chimneypiece with console brackets and an iron grate, together with a moulded plaster cornice. The left-hand front room is similar but with a black marble chimneypiece. Pencil inscription on the wall plaster of the right-hand front room reads: "Frank Harvey Painted, Grained and Paperhanged this New House for Mr H Mills, Newton Abbot, In the year 1869 and 1870".

The entrance hall displays a moulded cornice and plaster centrepiece in high relief featuring anthemion and acanthus leaves. The open well stairs have an open string with slender turned balusters and a moulded mahogany handrail wreathed over the curtail newel. All 19th-century joinery remains intact, including panelled doors, doorframes and panelled internal window shutters.

The back rooms are considerably plainer in finish. The servants' room has had its chimneypiece removed, while the dairy behind retains slate slabs and a stair to the chamber above, fitted with stick balusters and turned newels. The first landing at the back includes a water closet with borrowed light above from a large window featuring stained glass margin panes.