Description

TORQUAY

SX9063 SEAWAY LANE, Chelston
885-1/17/343 Manor House Hotel
10/01/75

GV II

Shown on OS map as Chelston Cross.
House, now in use as hotel. c1867, extended 1881 (datestone).
Parts of the interior said to have been designed by RE Froude
and HM Brunel for William Froude, pioneer of experimental ship
tanks. Purple slatestone with grey limestone and polychromatic
brick dressings; tarred hipped slate roof with evidence of
original ornamentally-cut slates; stacks with diagonally-set
brick shafts and projecting cornice above a toothed frieze.
Eclectic High Victorian style.
PLAN: Irregular plan. Approximately rectangular main block
with the principal (garden) elevation facing south-east,
overlooking the sea. Entrance on north west side into stair
hall. Service wing extends to the north-east, on the same
axis, with probable chapel. Subsidiary wing at right-angles to
north west. Triangular service yard between wings with stable
range on north-east side.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attic Slightly asymmetrical 1:3:1-bay
south-east front in main range. Rusticated grey limestone
quoins; toothed brick frieze below eaves; toothed brick sill
band. Crank-headed windows, glazed with high-transomed
casements with glazing bars. Central projecting lateral stack,
corbelled out below the eaves, the flues divided round ground
and first floor windows. Canted bay to extreme left with a
steep peaked roof.
Extreme right-hand bay with hipped roof extended c1880s with
canted bay with parapet, shoulder-headed windows and
first-floor cast-iron balcony on stone brackets. Ironwork
similar to Torquay pavilion; similar balcony to attic dormer
which has hipped roof. Set of attic dormers with deep eaves
and cusped bargeboards. Single-storey and attic 6-bay service
wing to the right in the same style.
Projecting forward from the service wing and parallel to it, a
probable chapel with 3 lancet windows on the left and a canted
bay on the south-east side.
Entrance (north-east) elevation has a gabled 2-storey porch
with a double-chamfered arched doorway with hoodmould;
first-floor oriel window above with stone slate roof and plate
glass windows; 2-light mullioned window in gable to left of
the porch; one ground and one first-floor shoulder-headed
windows to right of the porch and, set at an angle, a 3-stage
tower with a toothed brick cornice below a deep hipped roof
with sprocketed eaves, crowned with a lantern with a peaked
roof and weathervane. Crank-headed windows arranged in pairs
and triplets. Single-storey wing to left at obtuse angle
similar to service wing in style.
INTERIOR: Extraordinary and spectacular full-height 2-storey
stair hall; staircase in Columbian pine, said to have been
designed by HM Brunel and RE Froude. Stair with alternating
diagonally-set stick and octagonal balusters rises to a
gallery on 3 sides of the hall; gallery supported on timber
brackets springing from stone corbels. From the gallery, a
'flying' flight of steps springs across the width of the hall
to an attic room reached from a cantilevered landing. The
balustrade of this flight has segmental-arched braces and
resembles the side of a suspension bridge. The house retains
many other features of interest: original doors; chimneypieces
and stained glass.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1952-1989:
P.865).

Listing NGR: SX9023863396

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26513223

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)