Stover House

Stover House is a country house in Teigngrace, now in use as a school since 1932. It was built between 1776 and 1781 for James Templer, with significant additions made around 1830, possibly by the architect Philip Hardwick for the eleventh Duke of Somerset. Four bucket heads bearing the initials J.T. and the date 1776 survive on the building.

The exterior is constructed of Haytor granite ashlar with rusticated quoins and rusticated basements, with a band above and stringcourse at ground floor window level. The building features a parapet and cornice with mutules, and is topped with a coated slate hipped roof with lead roll hips and four stacks with classical pots. The plan is almost square with two storeys, a sub-basement, basement and attic. The main elevations face north-west and south-east, arranged in a symmetrical 1:3:1 bay pattern, with the centre three bays expressed as full-height canted bays. The south-east entrance front has a round-arched pilastered doorway with early 19th-century glazed doors. A large Doric hexastyle porte-cochere of Portland stone was built in front of the entrance around 1830. The centre columns are spaced to accommodate a mounting block on the stylobate, above which rises a Doric entablature. The door is approached via ballustraded paved stone quadrant stairs leading to a landing that breaks forward; on either side stands a cast iron lantern topped with a ducal coronet. The south-west and north-east side elevations each contain four bays. Above the centre of the south-west side an attic window of granite rises above the parapet, as does a stair tower at the centre of the north-east side; both are probably additions from around 1830.

Window openings are flat-arched with plain sills. Original hornless sashes survive except for three lower sashes to the north-west. Original two-light casements with six panes each and ferramenta are found in the sub-basement, with six-pane sashes to the basement. The entrance floor has sashes of six panes over six, and the first floor has sashes of three over six panes. Small flat-roofed dormers with glazing bars sit behind the parapet. A stone balustrade runs to the basement area. Linked to the south-west corner is a single-storey office of rusticated granite with a wide band below the eaves, a hipped slate roof, and two-by-one bay elevations with six-pane hornless sash windows. An adjoining two-storey rendered service block features sash windows within blind arcading below a moulded cornice and blocking course, with a hipped slate roof.

The interior follows an almost symmetrical plan with a central north-south corridor reflected on all floors. The sub-basement served as store and cellar, with stone flooring and vaulting. The basement contained kitchens and service rooms with stone floors. The entrance level houses the reception rooms. The first floor contains the main bedrooms, and the second floor chiefly accommodates staff quarters. The principal floor comprises an entrance hall and saloon on the east-west axis, separated by a colonnaded screen with staircases at either end on the north-south axis (the main stair to the north). Reception rooms occupy the north-west and south-west corners, with possibly more private rooms in the opposite corners.

The principal east room (entrance hall), accessed from a vestibule off the porte-cochere, features a distyle screen opposite with fluted columns, engaged responds, and Adam-style capitals, with a decorative plasterwork entablature and cornice with mutules. Round arches open north and south to staircase lobbies, with double doors to the saloon set centrally.

The principal room (saloon) has a white and buff veined marble mantlepiece with Ionic columns, an entablature with blocks, a dentil cornice, and a central panel with a swagged urn and early 19th-century grate with brass mounts. The Adam-style plasterwork ceiling features a fluted and enriched roundel surrounded by an oval necklace of small circular reliefs of garlanded profiles. The canted bay shutters have cross-fluted panels and enriched casings. Mahogany doors to north and south have architraves with vase-interlace friezes to the entablatures.

The south-west room (possibly a drawing room) is richly decorated with an Adam-style plasterwork ceiling displaying an enriched fluted central roundel, a swagged border and oval medallions of the Pascal Lamb. Strips at either end contain paired gryphons, with an enriched cornice and dado cornice. The marble mantlepiece features polychrome inlay, splat pilasters and a fine central relief of a shepherd boy. The plasterwork overmantle displays a classical scene in a roundel surrounded by wreaths and swags. The entablatures of the two mahogany doors have friezes of flower baskets and twining wreaths. At the east end, a door stands between two niches of oval plan with embellished fluted vaults.

The north-west room (possibly a dining room) is simpler in decoration, with an Adam-style plasterwork ceiling featuring a central rose in a square frame with the Templer arms in an oval bay-leaf wreath and end strips with classical relief. The marble mantlepiece with polychrome inlay has a frieze of urns and paterae and an early 19th-century grate with brass mounts. The plasterwork overmantle holds a rectangular frame around a circular classical plaque surrounded by garlands and vine swags.

In the south-east corner, a simple room (possibly once a library) has a plasterwork overmantle and cornice. All reception rooms contain mahogany doors, some retaining remains of original brass door furniture with swagged mounts.

The main staircase is cantilevered with an open string and open round-ended well. The balustrade comprises wrought iron with cast embellishments and a wreathed mahogany handrail. An Adam-style plasterwork ceiling cornice features paired acanthus brackets and buccrania. Buccrania friezes also appear on the doorcases and round classical plaques on the walls. At first floor level, a round arch opens to a central corridor of three bays separated by round panelled arches on pilasters with swagged consoles; the outer bays have flat ceilings with centre roses and pendentives. The middle bay contains a centre ring, once open to the second floor where there must have been a circular balustrade beneath the existing Adam-style dome with swags, paterae and an oculus (now fitted with a 20th-century light). Much original pine flooring survives throughout the house, and some original fireplaces are said to remain on the first floor. The interiors are of excellent quality.

It appears possible that the entrance was originally on the south side and that the secondary staircase projection there may be a later addition. Colvin's reference to a drawing of Stover Lodge (the former name) in the Hardwick family collection suggests that the porte-cochere was designed by Philip Hardwick.

Stover was the home of James Templer (died 1782), who made his fortune completing government works in Madras and Plymouth. His son James II, a lawyer, and his grandson George subsequently lived at Stover before George built the Stover Canal and his successor built the Haytor tramway respectively. The property was purchased by the eleventh Duke of Somerset in 1829.