Description

PAIGNTON

SX8960 THE ESPLANADE
1947-1/6/95 (South side)
13/03/51 The Paignton Club

GV II

Purpose-built club. 1881.
MATERIALS: Stuccoed and blocked out; roof and stacks concealed
behind parapet. Classical style.
PLAN: On an important side at one end of the esplanade.
Double-depth rectangular plan with bowed ends. Central
entrance into stair hall, with (formerly) heated rooms to left
and right with bowed ends; large first-floor billiard room
with smaller offices to left and right. Services originally in
the basement, which has been converted to a flat, services now
to the rear in a later addition.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and basement. Symmetrical 5-bay front with
a 5-bay verandah created by an Ionic colonnade with a parapet
pierced by small lancets; similar parapet to main block.
Verandah has low balustrade on High Victorian cast-iron
standards with foliage decoration. Steps up to verandah with
C19 central doorway with moulded architrave and with unusual
stuccoed brackets supporting a crested cornice; half-glazed
door with overlight.
The other bays on the ground floor have similar doorways with
high-transomed French windows. First-floor windows have
similar architraves and brackets but with shallow pediments
over; French windows to match ground floor. 3-bay bows to left
and right rise to first-floor level and have similar parapets;
bays divided by large Corinthian half columns. Round-headed
windows in bows have moulded, pilastered architraves with
keyblocks. Bays to rear of bows are windowed to match the
front.
Rear elevation, to Roundham Road, has 3 first-floor pedimented
windows and single-storey flat-roofed service addition.
INTERIOR: Original joinery includes large 2-leaf panelled
doors to ground-floor room from stair hall. Unusual angled
timber cornice with pierced pattern. Steep stair with mahogany
turned balusters and handrail. Billiard room has decorative
roof vents and 2 timber fireplaces of an Edwardian character.
Early fittings including tables and scoreboards. Dumb waiter
in billiard room, probably original.
(DoE: List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic
Interest: 1975-).

Listing NGR: SX8935960377

Recommended Books

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)