Description

BARNSTAPLE

SS5632 LITCHDON STREET
684-1/5/195 (South West side)
31/08/88 No.21
Riversvale

GV II

House, now offices of North Devon Health Authority. 1839, with
mid C19 addition on right-hand side. Solid rendered walls,
probably of stone or brick. Hipped, slated roofs. Plain,
rendered chimneys, asymmetrically placed, with rebuilt tops.
Double-fronted, 3 rooms deep, with central entrance passage
leading to main staircase at rear; back stairs in place of
right-hand middle room. Mid C19 addition consists of a wing at
the front and a separate wing at the rear, both probably with
only 1 or 2 rooms per floor.
2 storeys with semi-basement; the front wing of mid C19 has 3
storeys within the same overall height. Entrance front, facing
S, is 3-window range, the centre window set in a slight
projection. Rusticated basement with segmental-headed window
to left and flat-headed window to right; C20 casements. Ground
and 2nd-storey windows have barred sashes of 6 panes, except
for 9-paned lower sashes in ground storey. Central entrance
porch with coupled Greek Doric pilasters and entablature.
Balustraded stone steps in front; concrete balustrade.
4-panelled door with adjoining 4-panelled section, apparently
just a screen, to left. Flanking panelled pilasters to both
storeys. Deeply projecting eaves cornice.
Left side wall, partly visible from Taw Vale and the
riverside, has been altered, but retains original barred
sashes in ground storey. Balcony with ornate wrought-iron
balustrade in upper storey.
Rear wall (partly visible from Taw Vale and Litchdon Street)
has small-paned windows, including the tall round-arched stair
window, which has coloured glass in the margin-panes. Mid C19
addition is 2-window range where it adjoins the entrance
front. Segmental-headed windows with moulded imposts and
keyblocks; plain sashes. Entablature at 2nd-floor level.
Rusticated quoins in 2nd and 3rd storeys. Top entablature and
blocking-course.
Return front to Litchdon Street plainer, but with a pair of
similar windows in 3rd storey and a bracketed eaves cornice.
Addition to rear of this has in front facing Litchdon Street,
a projecting 3-light window with triangular pediment above.
INTERIOR: in 1986, entrance lobby had moulded ceiling with
circular panel enclosed within a square. Round-arched inner
doorway with panelled pilasters, moulded archivolt and
patterned fanlight; door with panels below and small-paned
glazing above, the corner margin-panes with coloured glass.
Passage and stair hall had enriched dado-rails, modillion
cornices and foliated chandelier bosses. 4-panelled doors with
moulded architraves. Open-well wooden staircase with shaped
step-ends. Wrought-iron balustrade, voluted at the foot, with
panels of scrollwork and honeysuckle. Original wooden back
stair with thin, square-section balusters. Rooms seemed to
have been stripped of detail, but lowered ceilings might
conceal original cornices and chandelier bosses.
An 1839 deed of No.22 (qv) describes the house on the south
(presumably this one) as 'lately erected'.
(Title Deed to No.22 Litchdon Street).

Listing NGR: SS5608432770

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26665007

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)