Culver House

Details

HOLCOMBE BURNELL SX 89 SW

3/67 Culver House 11.11.52 (formerly listed as Culver)

GV II*

Large house, partly subdivided into flats. 1836, architect unknown extended 1875 by Alfred Waterhouse (dated plans) for Edward Byrom. Dressed volcanic trap with freestone dressings; slate roofs gabled at ends with gables to front and rear; stone stacks with tall brick clustered octagonal shafts with moulded caps. The 1836 range to the south is in an Tudor Gothic style with some very complete interiors. The Waterhouse addition to the north, although more asymmetrical, is remarkably sympathetic to the earlier building and honours the materials, string course, plinth and fenestration of the 1836 design which Waterhouse modified on the south side. The principal rooms, except the dining room, face the garden and are in the 1836 range which has a rear spine corridor and, off the corridor, a large stair well at the back. The side entrance, to the rear right of the 1836 range has a small vestibule. The 1875 addition at the rear right extends the rear wing and entrance side and appears to have been largely service rooms and additional accommodation. The dining room was refurbished in the 1930s with high quality woodwork brought from Byrom Hall and Kersall Hall. Waterhouse's design for a spectacular tower over the dairy was not executed. 2 storeys and attic. Asymmetrical 7-window entrance side (east) elevation with stone mullioned windows with 7 gables with ornamental bargeboards, mostly with pendants. The left-hand 5 gables belong to the 1836 design, the 2 right-hand gables and an oriel widnow at the extreme right belong to the Waterhouse addition. Three of the gables and an oriel window above the front door (left of centre) are corbelled out at first floor level; Waterhouse oriel, with a pyramidal ornamental slated roof is more heavily corbelled above a short buttress. 4-centred arched stone front doorway flanked by arched 1-light windows; a second doorway right of centre may a 1940s addition when the right-hand end of the house was converted into flats. Some of the mullioned windows in the 1836 range have 4-centred arched lights, others are square- headed, a design continued by Waterhouse. A curious feature of the front elevation is a ground floor blind gable with bargeboards. The garden (west) elevation of the 1836 range is more nearly symmetrical with gabled projections to left and right and 2 gabled dormers in the centre. Stone mullioned windows including a 2-storey bay window to the right, the ground floor window transomed; and a first floor oriel window to the left. The 3-light window below the oriel is a C20 insertion. The Waterhouse addition at the left is a series of picturesquely gabled blocks including a single-storey dairy. The south elevation has two 2-storey bays with mullioned windows added by Waterhouse. Interior The 1836 range has a very complete interior including a chimney-piece, joinery, decorated plaster ceilings and quatrefoil-decorated skirting boards and doorcases. One of the plaster ceilings is probably of the 1870s or later. A fine dog-leg open-well stair with turned balusters and evidence of having been altered; the ceiling has painted decoration which is probably by Waterhouse, although the hammerbeam roof is 1836. Pictorial stained glass of saints, formerly in the stair window, is in the possession of the owner. The dining room is panelled with good C16 panelling brought from Byrom Hall (demolished 1894) and a splendid Jacobean chimney- piece from Kersall Hall, (demolished 1830). The dairy has a fairly complete set of ornamental tiles, all of 1875. 2 paintings of the house are in the possession of the owner and show the 1836 building: - an oil of the 1860s and a watercolour of 1845. Waterhouse's signed dated plan, elevations and details are also in the possession of the owner. A fine, large, 2-phase C19 house; the Waterhouse addition is probably his only known work in the County of Devon.

Listing NGR: SX8477890172

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

400730

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.