Description

HOLCOMBE BURNELL
SX 89 SW

3/67 Culver House
11.11.52 (formerly listed as Culver)

GV II*

Large house, partly subdivided into flats. 1836, architect unknown extended 1875 by
Alfred Waterhouse (dated plans) for Edward Byrom. Dressed volcanic trap with
freestone dressings; slate roofs gabled at ends with gables to front and rear; stone
stacks with tall brick clustered octagonal shafts with moulded caps.
The 1836 range to the south is in an Tudor Gothic style with some very complete
interiors. The Waterhouse addition to the north, although more asymmetrical, is
remarkably sympathetic to the earlier building and honours the materials, string
course, plinth and fenestration of the 1836 design which Waterhouse modified on the
south side. The principal rooms, except the dining room, face the garden and are in
the 1836 range which has a rear spine corridor and, off the corridor, a large stair
well at the back. The side entrance, to the rear right of the 1836 range has a small
vestibule. The 1875 addition at the rear right extends the rear wing and entrance
side and appears to have been largely service rooms and additional accommodation.
The dining room was refurbished in the 1930s with high quality woodwork brought from
Byrom Hall and Kersall Hall. Waterhouse's design for a spectacular tower over the
dairy was not executed.
2 storeys and attic. Asymmetrical 7-window entrance side (east) elevation with stone
mullioned windows with 7 gables with ornamental bargeboards, mostly with pendants.
The left-hand 5 gables belong to the 1836 design, the 2 right-hand gables and an
oriel widnow at the extreme right belong to the Waterhouse addition. Three of the
gables and an oriel window above the front door (left of centre) are corbelled out at
first floor level; Waterhouse oriel, with a pyramidal ornamental slated roof is more
heavily corbelled above a short buttress. 4-centred arched stone front doorway
flanked by arched 1-light windows; a second doorway right of centre may a 1940s
addition when the right-hand end of the house was converted into flats. Some of the
mullioned windows in the 1836 range have 4-centred arched lights, others are square-
headed, a design continued by Waterhouse. A curious feature of the front elevation
is a ground floor blind gable with bargeboards. The garden (west) elevation of the
1836 range is more nearly symmetrical with gabled projections to left and right and 2
gabled dormers in the centre. Stone mullioned windows including a 2-storey bay
window to the right, the ground floor window transomed; and a first floor oriel
window to the left. The 3-light window below the oriel is a C20 insertion. The
Waterhouse addition at the left is a series of picturesquely gabled blocks including
a single-storey dairy. The south elevation has two 2-storey bays with mullioned
windows added by Waterhouse.
Interior The 1836 range has a very complete interior including a chimney-piece,
joinery, decorated plaster ceilings and quatrefoil-decorated skirting boards and
doorcases. One of the plaster ceilings is probably of the 1870s or later. A fine
dog-leg open-well stair with turned balusters and evidence of having been altered;
the ceiling has painted decoration which is probably by Waterhouse, although the
hammerbeam roof is 1836. Pictorial stained glass of saints, formerly in the stair
window, is in the possession of the owner. The dining room is panelled with good C16
panelling brought from Byrom Hall (demolished 1894) and a splendid Jacobean chimney-
piece from Kersall Hall, (demolished 1830). The dairy has a fairly complete set of
ornamental tiles, all of 1875.
2 paintings of the house are in the possession of the owner and show the 1836
building: - an oil of the 1860s and a watercolour of 1845. Waterhouse's signed dated
plan, elevations and details are also in the possession of the owner.
A fine, large, 2-phase C19 house; the Waterhouse addition is probably his only known
work in the County of Devon.

Listing NGR: SX8477890172

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535522

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)