Description

SO 74 SE COLWALL CP B4232 (west side)

4/53 Perrycroft

18.2.70

GV II*

House. Begun 1893 and dated 1895 by C F A Voysey for J Wilson, a railway
magnate, in 'eclectic' Arts and Crafts and incipient Art Nouveau styles.
Roughcast, grey slate 45 degree hipped roof with tapered finials to 2 hip
junctions, deep eaves supported by slender iron brackets, 5 stacks 3 of
which are battered and one punctured by an arch. 'U' plan, service wing
in longer north-east arm, the bottom of the 'U' is the garden front: 2
storeys, 5 windows in 4 groups, first floor left and centre advanced.
Ground floor has 16 and 12 pane metal casements separated by wooden mullions;
first floor has 4 and 8 but mainly 12 pane windows, the 4 pane one arranged
so that each superimposed pane pivots in parallel; left hand and central
upper windows project and are supported on brackets following timber-frame
precedent. The whole first floor elevation is cantilevered as if jettied
over the ground floor to different degrees, yet controlled by battered
buttresses to the sides. Entrance through 6 panelled door, the top 4 lights
glazed; flat canopy, an integral bench to left and retractable roller sun-
awning. A large bell hangs from a bracket supporting the canopy to right
hand side. Inside the 'U': North front: 8 pane glazing bar windows on ground
floor arranged to east of entrance and a band of similar windows set side by
side to form a gallery-effect on first floor; flat roofed porch supported by
2 small and attenuated Tuscan type columns, leading to enriched strap-hinged
ledged entrance door; mounting block to east. West side of service wing:
different combinations of 4, 5, 6 and 8 pane glazing bar windows irregularly
placed; entrance via porch to north side of 3 storey pagoda-like tower along-
side Romanesque-style balustrading consisting of 5 marble columns with acanthus
capitals separating Art Nouveau rainwater goods from contrasting austere pier
finished in plain render. Interior: low entrance hall with plain wood open-
well staircase and square section balusters. Ground floor fireplaces survive
largely unaltered: those in entrance hall and kitchen have slender integral
columns. In the entrance lobby from the garden front is combined fireplace
and cupboard with strap-hinge decoration of peacocks in Viking Ringerike Style.
Ground floor doors survive largely as first designed; first floor doors
replaced. Safe by Whitfield and Company of Birmingham. Morris and Company
wall-paper noted by Pevsner in 1963 has disappeared. Forms group with garden
summer-house, walls, dovecote, lodge and stables (qv). One of Voysey's best
Gousts.

Listing NGR: SO7653641803

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Perrycroft at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17537762

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)