Description

BRIXHAM

SX9055 BRIXHAM ROAD, Churston Ferrers
1946-1/6/43 (South side (off))
18/10/49 Gramercy Hall School, Lupton House
(Formerly Listed as:
BRIXHAM ROAD
Lupton House (School))

GV II*

Formerly known as: Lupton Hotel (including stable range)
BRIXHAM ROAD.
Country house (formerly known as Lupton House), now school.
c1772, remodelled c1843 by George Wightwick. Restored without
the top storey after a fire in 1926. Solid rendered walls.
Hipped slated roofs. Rendered chimneys with prominent top
cornices.
Plan: Front range has large entrance hall with a main room at
either side. To right a long rear wing with entrance hall
(believed to be the original main entrance) having main room
to right and large library to right. 1-room extension at far
right. To left of the front range is a long low wing, linked
to the stable block (qv) by an archway. Behind the main
entrance hall, accessible also from the entrance hall in the
rear wing, is a large top-lit room, possibly the site of the
original staircase. The present main staircase lies behind
this in turn. At right-angles to it, parallel with the left
wing, is a long kitchen wing; behind it is a range of
coal-stores, built into the hillside and filled from hatches
in the top.
Exterior: 2 storeys with single-storey additions. Main front 3
windows wide with 10-window return to right. 4-window left
wing. Main front has centre porte-cochere with Doric columns;
entablature with triglyphed frieze, modillioned cornice and
patterned balustrade. Panelled double doors with
anthemion-patterned grille in front of fanlight. Window with
4-paned sashes at either side. Flanking the porte-cochere at
either side in ground storey is a Venetian window with
balustraded panels below, the rail and plinth of the
balustrade continued across the whole front as a pedestal
course; 6-paned sashes with radial head-bars in main light, 1
over 2-paned sashes with margin-panes in side-lights.
Upper storey has modified Venetian window in centre with
6-paned sashes in all 3 lights and a segmental pediment over
flat-headed centre light. Outer windows single-light with
moulded architraves, segmental pediments and 6-paned sashes;
beneath them balustrades and pedestal-course as in ground
storey. Front finished with a stepped bandcourse, above which
are 3 balustraded panels and a top cornice.
Return front to right similar in style, but with slightly
projecting centre and wings. Centre doorway with attached
Doric columns, entablature and triangular pediment; triglyphed
frieze with paterae; round-arched doorway with moulded
archivolt and imposts, half-glazed double-doors, scrolled iron
grille in front of fanlight. At either side a Venetian window
with stepped keystone to the centre arch and balustraded
panels below. In the wings single-light windows with moulded
architraves and stepped keystones. Upper-storey windows have
moulded architraves; those in wings with stepped keystones,
those in centre and at either side with pulvinated friezes and
pediments, triangular in centre, segmental on the sides,
balustraded panels below; centre window has consoles to the
pediment and scroll buttresses to the architrave. Moulded top
cornice and parapet with balustraded panels to the centre;
stepped cornices and similar parapets to the wings, with
cornices instead of copings.
Single-storey section to right has 3 close-set windows flanked
and separated by Ionic pilasters. Entablature above,
surmounted by parapet with balustraded panels. Whole front has
small-paned sashes: 6 over 6 panes in ground storey, 3 over 6
panes above.
Left wing has Doric pilasters between and flanking the
windows. Top cornice and panelled parapet, the latter with
pedestals corresponding to the pilasters. Segmental-headed
ground-storey windows with 8-paned sashes. Flat-headed
upper-storey windows with 3-paned sashes. At left-hand end a
tall, projecting round-arched gateway; rusticated flanking
pilasters, top cornice and blocking-course; arch has moulded
archivolt and imposts. Small-paned sash windows at rear. Coal
stores have tall round-arched openings with plain imposts.
INTERIOR contains much good detail, especially moulded
plasterwork and chimneypieces with original iron grates;
nearly all appears to be C19. Main entrance hall has screen of
square pink and grey marble columns. Chimneypiece of matching
marble with cornice-shelf on consoles; white marble cartouche
in centre of frieze; round-arched iron grate. White marble
statue of Lord Rolle inscribed 'E. B. Stephens sculp. London
1843: seated figure on pedestal.'
Ground-floor rooms to right of hall and at front of wing have
Adam-style ceilings and panelled shutters. Wing room has white
marble rococo chimneypiece with patterned, coloured enamelled
panels on the jambs; basket-grate with enriched iron fireback.
Library has screen with paired scagliola Ionic columns. At
each end a green marble chimneypiece with key-pattern frieze
and shelf on paired brackets; enriched surround of iron grate,
the baskets missing. Decorated ceiling with modillioned
cornice. Open-well wood staircase with carved balusters and
newels. Good detail in other ground- and first-floor rooms,
although the main rooms all seem to have been on the ground
floor.
Lupton House is said to have been rebuilt by Charles Mayne
Esq, who was sheriff in 1772. He sold it to Sir Francis
Buller, the ancestor of Lord Churston, c1788. White's
Directory of Devonshire, 1878-9, says the house was 'rebuilt
about thirty-five years ago'.
(White W: Directory of Devonshire: 1850-: 424-5; Gunnis R:
Directory of British Sculptors, 1660-1851: London: 1968-: 372;
The Buildings of England: Cherry B: Devon (2nd edition):
1989-: 833).

Listing NGR: SX9026355002

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Lupton House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15979166

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)