Porth-en-alls

Details

ST HILARY PRUSSIA' COVE SW 52 NE 3/164 Porth-en-Alls

GV II*

House. Datestone 1906, mostly rebuilt 1910-1914. The rebuilding designed and the work supervised by Philip Tilden a distant relative of T.T. Behrens for whom the house was built. Built on the site of a house that was the home of John Carter (King of Prussia). Granite rubble and granite dressings, some rock-faced (from Tregonning Hill), partly cavity walls, leaded bronze windows in teak frames, reinforced concrete floors overlaid with oak boards within and joinery of English oak. The gable-ended roofs are stone slate from the Forest of Dean laid to diminishing courses with swept valleys and hipped roof dormers. Glazed roof over the squash court. Lateral and axial dressed stone chimneys, 3 with moulded cornices. Plan: The house is built into the cliff with its garden front at a lower level facing south to the sea and the entrance is at a higher level on the west side facing the chauffeur's lodge (Porth-en-Alls Lodge qv) which is built into the cliff behind. Y- shaped plan, built into the bedrock at the elliptical-on-plan entrance courtyard front with ground level to attic gable entrance. Single storey wing at left of entrance courtyard and taller single-storey plus attic wing, right of the entrance courtyard; wings set at right angles to each other and with 2 storey plus attic principal range on lower ground beyond making the shaft of the Y. The main range is 2 rooms wide under parallel roofs returned at the front and rear. The first floor plan is the only floor which encompasses the whole house, and this floor contains the 4 principal wider rooms on the right hand side (south) including large drawing room with 2 bay windows flanking a balcony. The balcony and windows are carried on a 3- bay arcade. In the left hand wing is a former squash court, stair hall is at the rear left of a passage. The front of this passage (under the forecourt) is lit by a pogoda-like lantern. Left of the squash court is a 2 storey former workshop block. There was intended to be a great hall adjoining the rear (east) of the house but work was curtailed by the first world war. English vernacular revival style. Exterior : West entrance front at the higher level leads off from a circular courtyard (for turning vehicles) on the opposite side of which is Porth-en-Alls Lodge qv. A smaller courtyard (roof terrace), flanked by 2 round-on-plan gate piers, leads to the main entrance doorway in the front gable end of the principal 2-storey plus 'attic range. Moulded shallow-arched doorway with hoodmould/string on corbels over and oculus window to coped ashlar gable above. Original heavy panelled door. The ground is at a lower level on the south seaward side. 2 storeys plus attic. 5 window garden front (2:1:3 bays). Doorway to middle bay behind 3-bay Romanesque style arcade to ground floor, right. Balcony over the doorway flanked by 3-light bay windows with mullions and transoms. 3-light mullioned window to each first floor bay left with doorway between the left hand bays and corbelled sundial over. Hipped attic dormers behind parapet with moulded cornice. The other elevations have irregularly disposed features in similar style. Interior : original unpainted mortar and timber surfaces with structural elements freely displayed and exploited to give vitality to the internal spaces. Carefully detailed C17 style joinery: moulded 2-panel doors with moulded architraves with corner and rail blocks; heavy chamfered balusters to stair; Classical style chimneypiece of red Sicilian marble to the drawing; other C17 domestic style and Classical style details and some C15 style linen-fold panelling including a sliding door with linenfold panelling. Porth-en-Alls is a remarkable C20 house incorporating many advanced technical innovations including the use of ferro-concrete. The real charm of the house, however, is the imaginative and ingenious way the house fits the awkward site and the varied use of materials and style.

Listing NGR: SW5583727953

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

70068

Legacy System:

LBS

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