Description

PLYMOUTH

SX4555 DEVONPORT ROAD, Stoke
740-1/41/652 (West side)
01/05/75 No.192
St Michael's Lodge and rear basement
court railings
(Formerly Listed as:
TRAFALGAR ROAD, Devonport
St Michael's Lodge)

GV II*

Large detached villa. 1827 by John Foulston. Stucco and render
replacing stucco; slatehanging to most of rear; roof hidden
behind parapet with heavy moulded cornice; rendered stacks
over the cross walls. Neo-Classical style.
PLAN: double-depth plan with 3 rooms at the front and central
stair hall behind central room approached by entrance hall
behind right-hand room.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys over basement; symmetrical 1:3:1-window
front with central windows to a bowed projection. Mostly
original hornless sashes with glazing bars (all elevations),
the ground-floor sashes taller and those to left and right as
tripartite windows with blind sidelights, the lights divided
by pilasters under moulded hoods on consoles; 1st-floor
windows above, within moulded eared architraves. Other stucco
detail includes plinth and tall entablature over giant
pilasters flanking the bays but there used to be more
elaborate detail as shown on old photographs. Right-hand
return is a symmetrical 3-window entrance front with eared
window openings, also to ground floor and with end pilasters
under a similar entablature, a theme which continues for 1 bay
of the right-hand return (rear) elevation; large central porch
with glazed tripartite doorway under a keyed segmental arch;
panelled pilaster under string to left and right and moulded
entablature surmounted by a squat pediment flanked by large
acroteria returned as parapet to sides. Rear is a 6-window
range with blind windows to left-hand bay and tall
round-arched stair window with fanlight head to 3rd bay from
left, the right-hand bay presumed to be a slightly later
addition.
INTERIOR: survives largely complete and has some fine features
including: vaulted vestibule on 4 Doric columns; modillion
ceiling cornice to hall; open-well staircase with open string,
and mahogany handrail with scrolled newel on stick balusters;
moulded and carved ceiling cornices to ground-floor rooms with
trailing bands and egg-and-dart, and anthemion to the kitchen;

moulded ceiling cornices to 1st-floor rooms where inspected
and panelled doors with stepped architraves.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: simple original wrought-iron railings
with arrow-head finials to basement court walls at rear.
HISTORY: designed as part of a group with the former St
Michael's Terrace which was the finest terrace of houses in
Plymouth, demolished following a period of neglect in the
1970s. In a national context, this survives as an outstanding
example of an early C19 architect-designed villa in the Greek
revival style. St Michael's lodge was used as a school between
1883 and 1970, first as a boarding and day school for girls
and later as a mixed preparatory school. It was the oldest
private school in Plymouth.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-:
673).

Listing NGR: SX4588655129

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554231

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

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)