Description

TORQUAY

SX9164 UNION STREET 885-1/14/284 (North East side) 10/01/75 Castle Chambers (Formerly Listed as: UPPER UNION STREET Castle Chambers)

GV II

Hospital, now used as County court. 1850 in origin, brought "up to date" 1892-93, contractor Joshua Chubb of Torquay (Ellis, p.438), architect unknown to date. Snecked local grey limestone with Bathstone and limestone ashlar dressings; gabled slate roofs; stacks with stone shafts with moulded cornices. Tudor style with Perpendicular arches. PLAN: Deep, approximately rectangular plan with a rear yard bounded by smaller buildings including a former mortuary, now in commercial use. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic, rear elevation 4 storeys and attic Almost symmetrical 7-bay front, the centre bay a machicolated tower, broken forward and crowned by an octagonal bell turret with spire. 3 coped gabled bays with kneelers, of various heights, to right and left, the outer bays broken forward. Stone mullioned windows throughout, mostly with transoms and dripmoulds with carved label stops. Projecting single-storey embattled porch with a coped gable in the centre with angle butresses with batters with a moulded-arched outer doorway with carved spandrels and a square-headed dripmould with carved label stops. 2-leaf door with blind tracery; moulded arched inner doors. First-floor canted bay window above the porch; pair of arched traceried 3rd floor windows with transoms and dripmoulds. Tudor-arched doorway in first bay from left with dripmould and carved label stops. Bell turret has trefoil-headed louvred openings below a lead spine with lucarnes and an iron finial. Rear elevation incorporates small lancet style mortuary. INTERIOR: Not inspected but may retain features of interest. Ellis gives a full history of the funding of the various stages of the building and the local philanthropists involved, pp.437-440. A new hospital was built on a different site in 1924. (Ellis CA: An Historical Survey of Torquay, 2nd edition: 1930-: P.438).

Listing NGR: SX9119364433

External Links

• Wikidata Q26502060

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Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)