The Red House

THE RED HOUSE

A large house on Bridgeland Street in Bideford, numbered 25 and 26, with the ground storey converted to a shop. The building is probably dated to 1692 or 1693, with the front substantially remodelled around 1900. A rear wing was added in the early or mid 19th century, followed by minor 20th-century additions to the rear of the main range.

The solid walls are probably of brick, with the front clad in mathematical tiles and the rear rendered. The roofs are covered with tiles from around 1900. There are brick chimneys at each end of the ridge; the left one is old red brick with a rebuilt top, while the right one is late 20th-century red brick.

The building is 2 storeys with an attic, spanning 5 windows across the front. The plan is 3 rooms wide and 2 rooms deep with a central through-passage on the ground storey, though the rear section of this passage is blocked by a later addition. The middle room on the upper floors is simply a closet with one window. A staircase occupies what would have been the rear left-hand room. The small room behind it, against the party wall, was altered in the second storey to provide access to the rear wing. The right-hand front and back rooms are combined into one on all three floors, though some of the original dividing wall remains on the ground storey.

The ground storey features a wide central doorway with a late 18th or early 19th-century wooden doorcase. This consists of reeded half-columns at either side supporting a frieze with raised-and-fielded panels decorated with 2-fillet ovolo moulding. A flat moulded hood on scrolled brackets tops the composition and has been strengthened top and bottom with scrolled iron brackets. The reveals and soffit of the doorcase are panelled. The door itself is 6-panelled with the bottom 2 panels flush and the top 2 now glazed, and is accompanied by a matching fixed 3-panelled leaf to its left. To the right is a single-storey canted bay window of similar date, with 3 pairs of sashes where the upper sashes are 6-paned and the lower ones 2-paned.

The other ground and second-storey windows have similar sashes, probably of the early 18th century with box-frames; the 6-paned sashes feature thick ovolo-moulded glazing bars, and some contain old glass. A raised cement band runs at sill level on the ground storey, possibly concealing an original brick band. The heavy wooden eaves cornice is late 17th-century in style but has the lower part cut to a double ogee over each window.

The roofline is broken by a continuous line of flat-topped dormers from around 1900, faced with mathematical tiles with roof-tiles swept down over them. Each dormer contains a wood casement window of 2 lights. The rear walls of the main range have been considerably altered. There is an upper-storey sash-window with margin panes and 2 dormers with 2-light wood casements, each light comprising 2 panes. The rear wing has a 6-paned sash window in the upper storey.

The interior contains a good proportion of original fittings with alterations dating to the early 18th or early 19th century; some of this later work may have been relocated from its original position. The ground storey front section of the passage has a late 18th or early 19th-century tall panelled dado. Doors to the front rooms are of similar date and feature 2 raised-and-fielded ovolo-moulded panels. A late 19th-century half-glazed screen with coloured glass divides the space.

The right-hand front room has a panelled dado on the left and rear walls (possibly re-set) matching that in the passage; the right wall displays early 18th-century raised-and-fielded ovolo-moulded panelling. The right-hand rear room contains panelling with a raised moulding, probably late 17th-century, surrounding the chimneybreast and including a cupboard with shaped H-hinges. A wide fireplace, probably for the original kitchen, opens here, with a moulded cornice and 2-panelled door with strap-hinges and raised mouldings leading to the passage. The left-hand front room has raised bolection-moulded panelling with a box-cornice. To the right of the chimneybreast is an early 18th-century cupboard with moulded architrave, panelled doors and base, the latter with a panelled pilaster at each end; matching window-shutters are present.

A wooden dog-leg staircase rises to the garret, with closed moulded strings, square newels with flat moulded caps, turned balusters, and a broad handrail with chamfered top.

On the second storey, the right-hand front room has early 18th-century panelling on the right wall matching that in the room below. It features a simple Art Nouveau wooden chimneypiece with yellow tiles and a cast-iron grate. The rear room has a coved cornice and raised bolection-moulded panelling on the right wall, with a matching wooden chimneypiece; the overmantel panel contains an oil painting, probably original. The left-hand front room has a moulded cornice and an early or mid 19th-century reeded stone chimneypiece (now painted) with a Gothic cast-iron grate, plus a 2-panelled door with raised mouldings. Both main front rooms have panelled shutters. The stair landing has a small 18th-century wall cupboard with a panelled door on H-hinges, and a plank door with a tall ovolo-moulded panel leading to the middle front room.

In the garret, the right-hand rear room has a small early 18th-century chimneypiece with an ogee-moulded surround and a segmental arch with fluted keystone, accompanied by a 19th-century cast-iron grate. The landing has an early 18th-century cupboard (possibly re-set) matching that on the ground storey, and a plank door with a tall ovolo-moulded centre panel leading to the left-hand front room; old wooden coat-pegs remain on the inside. A 2-panelled, ovolo-moulded door with shaped H-hinges leads to the left-hand rear room, which has a cupboard with similar doors. A plain plank door provides access to the right-hand rear room.

The building was Bideford Bridge Trust property, first leased to John Courtis of Bideford, a carpenter. He is mentioned as the lessee in a lease of the neighbouring house, No. 24, dated 29 December 1692, and in a lease of No. 27 on the other side it is stated that he built Nos. 25 and 26. The first surviving lease of the latter property is to Richard Wadland, mariner, dated 6 February 1700. A later lease of 20 July 1864 notes that it had been converted into 2 houses. On 24 September 1899 the lease was granted to the architect G. Malam Wilson, who advertised it for sale in June 1901. It was then described as "a double-fronted family residence ... recently reconstructed, and occupied by G Malam Wilson, Esq. (Architect)". The rooms were listed along with certain fittings, including on the ground floor "a screen with leaded lights" in the entrance hall and a "Dining Room divided by folded screen".