Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 18/02/2014

SO85SW
620-1/3/428

WORCESTER
MALVERN ROAD (West side),
Pitmaston House

(Formerly listed as Pitmaston School)

05/04/71

GV II

House, offices at time of listing. c1810, with later additions and alterations including probably mid-C19 ranges to right and left. Reddish-orange brick with red sandstone and grey ashlar dressings and slate roof; tall brick clustered stacks with cornices to ends of main range. L-plan with central hallway to main range. Regency Gothic style with Victorian Gothic additions. Main range of 3 storeys, 2:1:2 first-floor windows, then range to right of 2 storeys, single bay and further 2-lower-storey single bay; single-storey, single bay to right with further lean-to conservatory.
MAIN RANGE: has 3 gables to front, that to centre is lower and narrower; ground and first floors have 6/6 sashes, that to centre of first floor is round-arched and has radial glazing bars to head, second floor has 3/6 sashes, all in near-flush frames and with hoodmoulds with label stops. Central entrance an 8-traceried-panel door in 4-centre-arched stone surround flanked by clustered columns supporting embattled entablature with quatrefoil panels on frieze. Range to right: embattled first-floor stone rectangular bay raised on piers with trefoil decoration; 6/6 sash to ground and first floors, that to first floor with quatrefoil band to apron; crowning castellation with end turrets. Far right bay breaks forwards and is blind to ground floor; first-floor 2-light casement window with hoodmould; crowing band and low parapet.
LEFT RANGE: canted stone bay has 4/4 between 2/2 pointed-arched sashes in chamfered surround and with continuous hoodmould, crowning band and parapet, between tall polygonal columns. Conservatory has stone plinth, 3 multi-paned casement windows with slender columns between and end entrance a panelled door with overlight. Left return of 3 first-floor windows: outer 2-light mullion windows and central 2-cusped-light window with rope-moulded surround with face stops, then column clusters between windows. The ground floor is occupied by the conservatory which has 10 casement windows with column clusters between. Rear has 2 shallow bays with traceried decoration and French windows with shutter box, castellated canted bay with 4/6 sashes; first-floor windows are mainly 2/2 sashes, some retain shutter boxes, oriel window. Round-arched 6/6 staircase sash with radial glazing bars to head.
INTERIOR: retains original joinery and plasterwork. Entrance hall has 4 Ionic columns and stone flagged floor; inner hall has modillion cornice. Dog-leg staircase with embellished cast-iron balusters nd wreathed handrail. 6-panel doors; panelled shutters to some windows. Some marble fireplaces, some with gothic-style details. Plasterwork includes classical scroll decoration and grapes to ceiling friezes. The room linking the hall and conservatory has a plasterwork 'tent' roof; conservatory has 4 octagonal pillars with 4-centre-headed arches and 2 octagonal light wells with ribbed vaults; cast-iron column lusters support lean-to roof; windows to conservatory have slender columns between.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Pitmaston was an ornamental nursery where hybrid fruits were developed. The extensive grounds now form a public park, bordered to Malvern Road by walls, piers, gates and gate lodge to Pitmaston House and Pitmaston Park (qv).

(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Worcestershire: Harmondsworth: 1968-1985: 335; National Monuments Record: Photographs).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26669412

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)