Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 15/08/2012

TQ 2370
7/183

LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON
COPSE HILL SW20
No 11 Colbyfield


II

House, now flats. 1861-2 by Francis Ganmer Penrose for himself. Built
of variegated brick, stone and pebble aggregate-faced concrete blocks,
with polychromatic effect achieved by alternating with single courses
of brick; stone quoins and dressings; hipped slate roof; brick stacks.
Rectangular plan. 2 storeys and attic; 4-window range to front.
Galded porche with polychromatic brickwork has round window above
panelled door set within semi-circular arched architrave. Adjoining
extension of 1970s, housing staircase and additional porch. Stone
lintels over 2 margin-light sashes to right, and over 3 small lights
with wrought-iron grilles to left. Similar margin-light sashes with
raised brick quoining to sides and rear; angled return to left-side
wall has oriel with 2-light stone-mullioned window set above
polychromatic brick semi-circular arched doorway; 2-bay rear elevation
has square bay window and canted bay window with margin-light sashes,
both set over basement with semi-circular arched sashes. Interior;
remodelled in C20. Drawings survive in the RIBA drawings collection,
the Contract taken out by one Hull on 26 April 1862. F C
Penrose(1817-1903), educated at Winchester and Magdalene College,
Cambridge, was Travelling Bachelor of the University of Cambridge, in
Italy and Greece (1842-45) publishing his researches as two Letters
on certain anomalies in the construction of the Parthenon (the Society
of Dilettanti 1846/1847) and Investigations of the Principles of Athe-
nian Architecture: Optical Refinments in the Construction of Ancient
Buildings at Athens (1851; Second edition 1888, where he established
by optical observation and mathematical calculation the measurement of
the entasis of the order and the curvature of the lines of the
Parthenon. He was an Architect in practice from 1846, Surveyor of St
Paul's Cathedral from 1851 in succession to C R Cockerell, and in
1884, elected First Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
He was in addition a noted archaeologist, astronomer and mathemati-
cian, and an overall phoymath for whom professional practice in archi-
tecture was something of a sideline. Included for its unusual use of
concrete blockwork as a building material early in the C19 and as an
unusual example of a High Victorian Architect designing a house for
his own use and occupation.
Sources: Charles Plante BA, Francis Cranmer Penrose, Architect (1817-
1903 unpublished BA Thesis (1987), University of Cambridge, Faculty of
Architecture and History of Art, (forthcoming in Journal of the Socie-
ty of Architectural Historians (USA).

Listing NGR: TQ2306370124

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26355889

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)