Description

PAIGNTON

SX8861 TORQUAY ROAD
1947-1/4/100 (West side)
10/01/75 Little Oldway

GV II

Villa, in use as old people's home. c1850 with 1870s
alterations for Isaac Merritt Singer (qv Oldway Mansion).
MATERIALS: Stuccoed and blocked out; slate roof; stacks with
grouped rendered shafts with cornices. 1870s tower of local
red breccia rubble.
PLAN: Approximately rectangular plan, facing N with tower, a
copy of the C14 tower associated with the Bishop's Palace
walls (qv) added at SW corner.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front with shallow
gabled projection to the front to right of centre. Deep eaves;
platband at first floor level. Approximately central entrance
in a slightly set-back bay with a shallow, pilastered
pedimented porch with a panelled door, upper panels glazed.
Service doorway to right with pilasters with sunk panels, a
pediment and a C20 four-panel door with glazed upper panels
and glazed side lights. 2 ground-floor windows with cornices
on consoles, one with sill blocks, plus an inserted C20
window, all glazed with C20 timber casements. Shallow
projecting stack in left-hand bay divides round left-hand bay
windows. 4 first-floor windows, 3 with segmental heads and
unusual stuccoed hoods, glazed with probably C20 2-light
timber casements. The left return is in a similar style with
matching window surrounds.
Garden elevation has a wide 2-storey canted bay to the right
with ground-floor French windows.
3-bay central section has similar windows and a 3-bay
replacement Chinese Chippendale verandah with a glazed roof
and segmental-headed arches. To the left, and slightly set
forward a 4-stage embattled, tapering tower, designed as a
copy of the tower associated with the ruins of the Bishop's
Palace in Palace Place, Paignton.
The tower has lancet and trefoil-headed windows, arranged in
pairs. The left return of the tower has similar windows and,
to its left, a 2-storey block is also red breccia with a
segmental-headed arched door with a pair of half-glazed doors
with glazed side lights. One ground-floor and 2 first-floor
12-pane sashes with segmental heads and chamfered stone
surrounds.
INTERIOR: Stair balustrade covered for fire regulations. C19
doors survive.
HISTORY: Isaac Merritt Singer lived here while Oldway Mansion
(qv), immediately to the E, was built for him.

Listing NGR: SX8869661518

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26585771

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings