Description

CLYST ST MARY
SX 99 SE
1/17 Winslade Park
-

- II*

Substantial mansion now used as offices. Built by Edward Cotsford, High Sheriff of
Devon (d.1810), circa 1800, architect unknown. This plain house was embellished
with architraves and pediments, and a N portico added at some point after 1862,
when the original W portico was converted to receive an extension to the ballroom
(lithograph of 1862 in DRO., 62/9/2 Box 3/21). Warm orange sandstone-based
rendering; slate hipped roof. Rectangular plan, the rooms arranged around a
central open hall rising through all 3 floors which are served by galleries leading
off the stairs that occupy the centre portion of the east range. 3 storeys and
basement. The building is now the centrepiece of the extensive London and
Manchester Assurance Company HQ by Powell Moya and Partners which won the RIBA
Architecture Award for the South West Region in 1979.
Exterior: 2 large axial stacks to both west and east roofs; plain parapet replaces
a balustrade (visible in a photograph of 1949); a balustrade at ground-floor level
runs around all except the east side of the house, enclosing stone-faced basement
area that allows natural light access to the basement; projections over basement
area carried on rusticated stone arched bridges. Rusticated pilaster quoins to all
angles. 4-pane horned sash windows throughout.
North entrance front: symmetrical, 5 bays, central portico occupies one bay with
coupled Doric columns set on panelled plinth; entablature with triglyphs and
panelled parapet; pilasters flank double doors with margin windows and fanlight;
ground-floor outer windows under pediments on console brackets, the architrave with
central patera; inner windows similar but with a panel above the cornice rather
than a pediment. 1st floor windows with moulded surrounds and floating cornices;
2nd floor windows with plain surrounds.
West front: symmetrical, 6 bays, the central 2 bays occupied by the original
portico which was converted in the later C19 into a projecting ballroom (now a
conference room), single storeyed; the pediment of the side windows, and the
segmental pediment of the west door contained within the parapet; steps to door
which is flanked by sash windows; the parapet itself surmounted by elaborate cast
iron railings. Ground floor windows all under pediments, otherwise treated as N.
South front: symmetrical 5 bays, windows treated as to west; central wide doorway
with pilasters and segmental pediment; the surrounding balustrade returns to form
stepped bridge to this entrance.
Rear: asymmetrical, 6 bays; 1st storey windows with pediments; stairwell windows (4
tiers) break the line of the 3 storeys. Late 1970s bridge at first floor level
links the house with the new office complex.
Interior: central hall well: an impressive room lit by glazed dome; all doors
panelled with moulded surrounds. Ground floor with round-headed arched entrances
with panelled pilasters and capitals. 1st floor gallery supported by Ionic
columns, dentilled cornice with Vitruvian scroll motif; upper gallery supported by
fluted columns,the capitals with anthemion motifs, the cornice with Greek key
frieze; top tier of square-section fluted columns. Cornice soffits all decorated;
gallery balustrades with turned balusters. Coved ceiling below glazed dome with
paterae and husked festoons. A surprising feature of this well-managed interior is
that the east-side corner columns in fact stand a little to one side of the corner;
there is a possibility that the basement is C16 (although nothing early is now
visible) and that the odd arrangement described is a response to a particular
technical difficulty presented by the basement construction. Openwell cantilever
stair probably post 1862, with cast iron balusters which alternate, 3 with spiral
twist centre to one tread, a single double-scroll to the next; scroll motif to each
stair end. Stair landings lit by 2 windows, some round-headed, with fluted
architrave; galleries entered through depressed arches. Coved ceiling with
festoons, the central panel with ribbed and fluted oval centrepiece and attendant
festoons. 2 other notable plaster ceilings: (1) south-west room of unusual design,
central octagon with concave sides set in an imbricated panel with corner fans; 2
rectangular panels at each end of the ceiling contain a long central rod with
undulate foliate band and bucranium. Modillion cornice. (2) north entrance hall
with large panels of varied design each with heavy modillion cornices.

Listing NGR: SX9797690430

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546648

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

• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)