Summary
A smaller country house, built in 1833-1834 in Tudor Gothic style, to designs by George Wightwick (1802-1872), for CV Bridgman, Esq. The single-storey ranges extending to the south-west are excluded.
Reasons for Designation
Hazeldon House, a smaller country house built in 1833-4 for CV Bridgman to designs by George Wightwick (1802-1872), is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a carefully-detailed and massed composition, by a recognised regional architect, exhibiting careful attention to external and internal detail, and precise planning;
* for the survival of a wide range of fixtures and fittings expressive of the Tudor Gothic style, internally and externally, all designed by the architect;
* the later alterations have been focussed in the former service rooms, which were largely plain, and thus there have been few significant losses;
* the pinwheel plan of the interconnected principal rooms, and their relationship to the service quarters, are clearly legible and give a strong impression of the functioning of this early-C19 house.
History
Hazeldon House was built in 1833-4 for a notable local attorney, Christopher Vickery Bridgman (1795-1876). The house and its associated stables and gateway were designed by George Wightwick (1802-72). Wightwick trained in London initially under Edward Lapidge, then travelled to Italy for a year, studying and drawing buildings and antiquities, some of which he published in 1827 as ‘Select Views of Roman Antiquities’. On his return he spent some time assisting Sir John Soane, then undertaking variety of literary endeavours, before moving in 1829 to Plymouth, where he joined architect John Foulston in partnership, becoming, as he described himself, ‘the leading architect in the western counties’ (see Colvin in SOURCES). Wightwick designed houses, shops, schools, churches and chapels across Devon and Cornwall, including Hazeldon House, which was commissioned by CV Bridgman. His drawings for the house, including elevations, plans, external and internal details including mouldings, chimneypieces and stair, and the stables and gateway, are preserved among the volumes of Wightwick’s drawings in the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) collection.
In 1841 Hazeldon was taken on by a Mr Downes and Bridgman moved to nearby Parkwood House, which had been built for the Rev W Evans, his father-in-law. Bridgeman was declared bankrupt in 1855. Hazeldon was sold in 1856 to Josiah Hugo Hitchins, and there were a number of subsequent owners during the rest of the C19 and the early years of the C20. A Francis Southby bought Hazeldon from the Bedford Estate for £2100 in a sale of 1911, following which it passed into the hands of a Colonel Young, who died in 1948. In 1949 Kelly College purchased the house and grounds as a memorial to Old Kelleians who had died in the Second World War. From then until 1983 Hazeldon was used as a boarding house for Kelly pupils. In 1983 a Mrs Watkins moved her St Michael’s School from in town to Hazeldon and ran it as the Kelly College Junior School; it subsequently became the Preparatory School for Kelly College. It remained in educational use until recently, with some associated internal alterations. The Tavistock tithe map of 1842 shows the house as it stands today, with an additional range running to the south-west which was shorter and wider than the present buildings on that site, which was later replaced by a conservatory. Around the middle of the C20, a further single-storey range was added to the south-west of the main range, running parallel to the former conservatory, which appears to have been remodelled about the same time.
A stable range, also designed by Wightwick and contemporary with the house, was built a short distance away, to the north-east of the house, just off the old Exeter Road. The stables were converted to residential use in the C20 and now (2018) are in separate ownership.
The former gardens of the house were levelled and remodelled in connection with their educational use over the course of the later C20. Further buildings were constructed in the grounds to the north and east of the house.
Details
A smaller country house, built in 1833-1834 in Tudor Gothic style, to designs by George Wightwick (1802-1872), for CV Bridgman, Esq. The single-storey ranges extending to the south-west are excluded.
MATERIALS
The main range of the house is stucco over brick, incised to imitate ashlar; the service range is roughcast rendered. Brick stacks.
PLAN
The plan is roughly U-shaped, with the rectangular main block adjoined by an L-shaped service range. A screen wall originally created a central courtyard; this is now roofed over to create an infill room. There is a double-depth additional range extending to the south-west of the main range.
EXTERIOR
The buildings are of two storeys, the main range slightly higher than the service range. The main range is in a Tudor Gothic style. The multi-paned mullioned or mullioned and transomed sash windows have stucco hood moulds. The principal (south-east) elevation is of four unequal bays, with the left-hand bay being a projecting, gabled cross-wing. This bay has moulded stucco eaves banding and kneelers, and an octagonal-section spinial with moulded pendant (the original upper portion, forming a finial, now lost), below which is set a stucco armorial. The large ground-floor window projects forward slightly, and has a Tudor-flower cornice. Set in the re-entrant angle between the cross wing and the main range is a single-storey open-fronted porch with matching cornice and entablature, and a moulded, four-centred-arched doorway. Above is a small window with two four-centred-arched lights. The two bays to the right each have narrower windows, those to the ground floor taller than those above. The elevation to the north-east includes the blind gable of the main range, with an externally-articulated chimney stack with two offsets and moulded eaves bands and kneelers. A cross wing extends to the right, with a canted bay window to the ground floor. The L-shaped service range, which is roughcast rendered and has smaller, mainly two-light windows without hood moulds, runs from the south-west corner of the main range, and returns to extend parallel to the main range. The north-eastern ends of the ranges are linked by a screen, forming an internal courtyard. It has a central, four-centred-arched doorway, with a ramped parapet and bellcote above; the doorway is flanked by narrow, single-light windows with hood moulds. The screen is deep enough to accommodate a small room to either side, originally a WC and store respectively. The gable end of the service range, to the right, has moulded bargeboards and an externally-expressed stack with two offsets, echoing that of the main range. The windows are roughly square, multi-paned casements set in plain reveals. One opening has been blocked and another has a replacement uPVC window. The rear elevation is irregular, partly tile-hung to the service rooms adjoining the main range; a first-floor doorway has been created from a window and another has been replaced in uPVC. The main range is extended to the south-west by two later, single storey ranges; the first, dating originally from the mid- to late C19, is partly glazed (now in uPVC) and is probably a remodelling of the earlier conservatory. Running parallel and very close to the rear of this range is another, probably built in the mid- to late C20, rendered and with a tile-hung gable to the south-west.
INTERIOR
The plan of the main range has a central entrance hall with principal rooms ranged around it. The principal rooms retain their timber sash windows, shutters and shutter boxes, panelling below the windows, many of their four-panelled doors, with flat-moulded door surrounds, moulded skirting boards and cornices, picture rails, and other internal joinery. Almost all of the chimneypieces designed by the architect for the house survive in their original locations. The entrance hall has a four-centred-arched opening to the stair hall beyond, and a similar opening to the former dining room to the left; this opening has lost its removable partition. To the right are two conjoined drawing rooms. The larger has full-height windows with shutters and architraves. The central ceiling rose matches the moulded plaster cornice, which has its original Tudor flower design. A deep foliate frieze, probably added in the later C19 and much overpainted, extends down to the picture rail. The chimneypiece is timber, with Gothic tracery detailing matching that in Wightwick’s drawing. A high, four-centred-arched opening with tri-fold double doors leads into the smaller drawing room. To the right of the doorway is a shallow-recessed bookcase with matching architrave surround. The smaller drawing room has matching rose, cornice and frieze, and chimneypiece. It has a later-C19 cast-iron and tile grate. The window has its shutters and surround. The smaller sitting room has a simpler moulded cornice; it retains its chimneypiece, shown in Wightwick’s drawings, with a shallow four-centred arched opening and brackets matching the finial to the gable on the exterior of the main range. The former window in this room has been removed and the opening greatly enlarged to give access directly into the large extension to the rear, built in the second half of the C20. The dining room to the right of the main entrance has the same floriated cornice and deep frieze as the drawing rooms, and a similar ceiling rose. Its almost full-height window retains its shutters and architrave. The service stair is off the service corridor, adjacent to the sitting room; it is a closed-string, dog-leg stair with chamfered, square-section newel posts with pyramidal caps, and plain stick balusters under a moulded handrail. Adjacent to this is a room created from the former butler’s room and butler’s pantry, with an enlarged window opening. The corner fireplace has been removed. On the opposite side of the corridor facing the stair and butler’s room a range of shallow, fitted cupboards. A doorway at the end of the corridor gives access to the longer return service range. This has moulded plaster beading to the original door and window openings. The largest room is the former kitchen; no historic features remain. Adjacent to this are the former servants’ hall and pantry, now converted to other uses, including lavatories. The corridor includes a large shuttered window, formerly to the courtyard. At the north-east end of the corridor the former scullery is marked out by the large, butler’s sink under the window.
The principal staircase, matching Wightwick’s drawings, is a closed-string, open-well stair with Gothic newel posts with moulded pendants and caps, and chamfered square-section balusters, rising to a galleried landing. The half-landing has a high stair window of three lights, separated by moulded mullions and with two transoms; the tops are four-centred-arched with mouldings to the spandrels. The original diamond glazing with coloured margins has been replaced around the end of the C19 with coloured glass in floral patterns. The stairs, landing and upstairs corridor have a later-C19 chair rail, below which the walls are hung with Lincrusta. The first-floor rooms in the main range have been little altered: a partition has been removed between the principal bedroom and its dressing room, but otherwise the plan is unaltered. The rooms have windows with shutters and shutter boxes, and panelling beneath the windows. The fire surrounds all survive, mostly plainer than those to the ground floor, but related in style; some have later inserts and grates. Two have cast-iron inserts in Gothic style, with four-centred-arched openings and octagonal piers with moulded feet and heads. The service rooms are modest, with no decoration, and rooms have been opened up to create larger spaces.
