Barwhinnock House

Barwhinnock House is an early 19th-century classical house with an unusual design for its area. It is a two-storey symmetrical building, but the main elevation appears as a single storey, flanked by lower single-storey bow-ended pavilions. The exterior is constructed of square coursed rubble with painted smooth rusticated quoins and painted raised margins.

The south front features a three-bay layout with flanking single-bay pavilions. The central advanced bay has a wide Tuscan columned doorpiece, corniced with a blocking course. There is a recessed pilastered tripartite door with an astragalled fan and sidelights, leading to a double-leaf door. The flanking doors are shallow bowed bays with Venetian windows that have column mullions and wide archivolts. The sash and case windows have small-pane glazing that intersects in an arched head. The building has a bull-faced granite basecourse with a smooth band above, a moulded eaves cornice, and a parapet. The pavilions contain single light 12-pane windows and piend roofs.

The rear elevation is made of rubble and features a central full-height canted bay with a pointed arch door and a modern open porch. The windows are mostly single light with 12-pane glazing. The roofs are piended slate, and there are tall corniced sandstone stacks with octagonal cans.

Inside, the house boasts an outstanding interior, including a tripartite glazed vestibule screen and an exceptional hall with a curved double staircase. There is a fluted Doric screen at the landing, and the stair balusters are fine cast-iron with roundels depicting classical figure groups. All main rooms feature delicate plaster cornices and good marble chimneypieces. A Tudor arch-headed astragalled glazed door under the stairs provides access to the library, which has a similar door (now fixed glazed) flanked by pointed-arch fanlights, with the right fanlight now having the door opened. The house also has good panelled doors, some of which are Tudor arch-headed.