Preston Park House

Summary

Detached house, now (2014) a residential care home, circa 1820 with an Edwardian addition and mid- to late-C20 extensions and alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Preston Park House is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the early-C19 house shows considerable care in both in its massing and elevations, with good proportions and external detailing;
* Design: the Edwardian addition has well-articulated elevations which complement the design of the original house;
* Intactness: although the house has undergone quite substantial extension and alteration these have not masked the character and quality of the early-C19 and early-C20 parts.

History

Preston Park House, formerly Lower Farm, dates from circa 1820 and stood within an area of fields and orchards with a large complex of farm buildings to the rear (north-west). The house was extended during the Edwardian period with a single-storey addition and a loggia to the south and a full-height addition to the rear. By 1928 it had been re-named Preston House. Sometime after this all of the surrounding fields and the farm complex were sold and the area was re-developed as a residential area, with an amenity area called Preston Park immediately to the east of the house. In 1937, by which time the building was owned by the county council, plans were drawn up to convert it to a children’s home. It subsequently became a nursing home in 1958 when it was extended with a substantial two-storey bedroom block to the north and a single-storey dining room addition to the south-west; the loggia was also glazed-in.

Details

Detached house, now (2014) a residential care home. Circa 1820, with Edwardian addition, and mid- to late-C20 extensions and alterations.

MATERIALS: constructed of Hamstone, with roughcast render to the upper parts of the rear and side elevations. The hipped roof is covered with Welsh slates and has wide overhanging eaves and stacks of brick and render. The modern extensions are built of brick.

PLAN: the building has an accretional, roughly rectangular plan. At its core is the early-C19 three-bay house with a projecting single-storey addition to the south-east and south, and a full-height addition to the rear which were built at the turn of the C20. The modern extensions are to the north, south-west and north-west*.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation of the early-C19 house faces east and is of two storeys, rising to three to the rear. It has a central stone doorcase with an open pediment on typical Yeovil console brackets; the doorhead has a depressed arch with a simple fanlight; the half-glazed timber door is modern. There is a sash window to either side and three first-floor windows; the central one is a two-light casement. The window openings have architraves with keystones; the sash windows have small and margined panes. To the left (south), the Edwardian addition is also built of Hamstone with a string course and parapet; the latter has roughcast render. The east elevation has a bay window with large stone transoms and mullions; there is a second offset bay window to the south-east corner. The central pane of both bays has an aluminium framed window with a toplight. The south elevation has a curving loggia which is divided into four bays by three tapering columns with cushion capitals, each rising from a square pedestal. Aluminium windows have been inserted across the loggia to enclose the space behind. At the south-west corner of the building is a flat-roofed, single-storey brick extension. The roof to the rear elevation has three gables which define each of the bays. The windows comprise a number of different styles: casements, mullions, mullions and transoms, and horned sashes; those to the middle floor except for the right-hand end have leaded lights, with diamond-shaped lights to the central window.

INTERIOR: (ground floor) the internal plan has been altered during the C20. The principal entrance leads into a small lobby and a second door opens onto a short corridor and a plain timber staircase. Few historic fittings have been retained, although the rooms within the Edwardian addition have dentil cornices and dado rails. One of its two rooms retains a timber overmantel with fluted columns to either end, though the fireplace itself has been blocked.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the mid-C20 extensions to the south-west, north-west and north are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

261398

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Preston Lower Farm in The A-to-Z of Yeovil's History by Bob Osborn, accessed 20 October 2014 from http://yeovilhistory.info/prestonlowerfarm.htm

End of official list entry

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