Description

TORQUAY

SX9263 HIGHER WOODFIELD ROAD
885-1/18/117 (West side)
10/01/75 Frognel

GV II

Large villa, used as hotel. Probably late 1840s/early 1850s.
Plastered; gabled half-hipped slate roof; stacks with
octagonal clustered shafts with coped bases and corbelled
caps. Tudor Gothic style.
PLAN: Rectangular double-depth main block, entrance on south
side into passage from which stair rises at right-angles.
Service wing at right-angles to north-east forms one side of
stable/service yard east of house.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, attic and basement. Deep eaves, the
verges with cusped pierced bargeboards with moulded pendants.
Almost symmetrical 3-bay front with 2 gables and a gabled
first-floor oriel in the centre. Projecting porch with coped
gable with kneelers and chamfered Tudor arched doorway.
Original inner door with vertical panels and Tudor arched
fanlight with intersecting glazing bars.
Windows with chamfered frames and moulded mullions, glazed
with casements with glazing bars; main windows with hoodmoulds
and transoms, first-floor outer windows with Venetian
shutters. Ground-floor window left C20, following removal of
conservatory, the position of which is marked by a moulded
string.
Left return also 3-bay and originally symmetrical with canted
bays to left and right on the ground floor and central gabled
dormer. First floor window left altered with mid C20 addition
of deep balcony with sun lounge.
East elevation roofs have angled half-hips through which the
chimney-shafts project. To right of the entrance elevation, a
chamfered archway with octagonal piers gives access to the
service/stable yard. Elevations into this yard very altered.
INTERIOR: Retains original stick baluster stair; plaster
cornices; original joinery and marble chimneypieces. Late C19
plans for proposed billiard room and library (not built) hang
in the hall.
In spite of some alterations this is probably the best
surviving example of the Gothic type of Torquay villa where
rather quirky Gothic details are applied to a conventional
symmetrical stuccoed villa design.

Listing NGR: SX9254563442

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26504034

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)