Blackmoor House

Blackmoor House is a country mansion, now divided into flats, built in 1869 with extensions in 1882 by Alfred Waterhouse for Sir Roundel Palmer (1st Earl of Selborne). It is constructed of polygonal malmstone with Bath stone dressings, including quoins, a plinth, mullions, and transoms. The roof is tiled, with dormers, and the wings have gables above the upper windows, featuring tall stacks.

The building exhibits complex asymmetry, drawing on 16th-century French and English styles with some Gothic details, and is two storeys high with an attic. The south (front) elevation has a three-window, one-window, three-window arrangement, with two-storied splayed bays beneath large gables. A lower wing extends to the west side, with a two-story and attic configuration and a one-window, three-window arrangement. Sashes are used throughout.

The north (entrance) elevation features a massive, tapered stack with an armorial panel, a projecting Gothic porch with a gable, buttresses, and recessed orders. There are also one large and one smaller gable, the latter featuring a traceried (Geometrical) staircase window. A Scottish baronial style range follows, with prominent gabled dormers, extending northwards to end in a tall, massive tower with a prominent roof and tiled gables. A low, two-story block with gables extends to the north-west, turning north into a long, single-story former stable range.

The interior displays elaborate detailing repeated in the main rooms and staircase. The complexity of the detailing and the varied gables create a deliberately picturesque effect, particularly when viewed from the north approach or the south-west.