Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20/05/2020

SS 90 NE
4/62

CULLOMPTON
Hillersdon House

5.4.66

II*
Substantial country house. 1848; built for W.C.Grant to designs by Samuel Beazley. Classical revival; red brick with Portland stone dressing under hipped slate roofs concealed behind parapet and dentilled cornice.

Shallow H plan: the rooms on both floors are arranged around a two-storey central hall with the staircases (main and nursery) leading off at the rear and occupying the western angle of the building. Axial stacks; stacks also behind parapet to flanking bays of all except south-east front, although the east stack is missing. Brick shafts. Two storeys.

Entrance (north-east front): five bays, the middle three projecting under a pediment containing achievement of arms; rusticated quoins; wide moulded plat band; central Porte-cochere, with Tuscan columns on plinths, the plat band brought forward to form a balustrade; windows (twelve-pane hornless sashes) treated variously; that to the centre first floor with pediment and lugged architrave flanked by windows with moulded architraves and keystones; side bay windows with floating cornices and bracketed sills.
Entrance: double panelled doors with single-light window to either side. South-east elevation: five bays, the wings each of one bay, the central three bays set behind loggia with Tuscan columns; plat band treated as balustrade and brought out over canted bays (one:one:one) to each wing; achievement breaks parapet; window variation follows pattern of north-east front.

South-west elevation: identical to north-east front, but without the porte-cochere, and with three windows under floating cornices instead of the entrance door. North-west (service) elevation: wings with depressed superordinate arches; several blocked windows; prominent stacks; this side looks out over a small courtyard which was entered between two gate houses, each of two storeys with cornice, one of which survives under temporary roofing. Single storey ranges make up the other two sides of courtyard and have been adapted to garage use. Revetment wall to patio, brick with panels, dentilled cornice under stone coping, is included in this listing.

Interior: entrance room, mosaic tiled floor decorated with Greek key motifs, leads into the through-hall which is divided into four units (the rear-or north-west-unit being temporarily partitioned off), alternating square and polygonal in plan, and each divided one from the other by segmentally-headed arches, with panelled pilasters and soffits; round headed niches; panelled doors with pediments, lugged architraves and panelled reveals. Light falls into hall from the landing through one square and two oval openings in floors surrounded above by cast-iron twisted balusters; these openings are now glazed. Cantilever well stairs with cast-iron twisted balusters; stairwell hall temporarily partitioned from hall; above first flight of stairs occupying the upper part of the north-west wall is an arcade of three large (formerly open) round-headed arches; behind this wall are the much simpler nursery stairs.

The south-west ground-floor suite of rooms (excluding the library) are divided by concertina doors which when opened allow almost the entire length of the suite to be used as a banqueting hall; all rooms with panelled internal shutters, fireplaces, cornices and doorway architraves of varying elaboration. Bedrooms much more modestly treated. Kitchens occupied east angle of house.

Note: Samuel Beazley is noted primarily as a theatre architect; Hillersdon is one of his few country house designs; it is restrained and dignified externally, with a highly imaginative use of internal space and especially interesting as a late classical survival design.

Listing NGR: SS9962607921

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Hillersdon House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5763079

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)