Description

TORQUAY

SX9163 PARK HILL ROAD
885-1/17/209 (East side)
21/01/85 Freemasons Lodge of St John

GV II

Freemason's Lodge of St John. 1857 (dated rainwater head), to
the designs of Edward Appleton. Snecked local grey limestone
with polychromatic brick and Bathstone dressings; slate roof
with lead rolls and ventilation pot (flache missing); stone
stack with stone shaft. Venetian Gothic style.
PLAN: Built into the side of Vane Hill. Tall 3-bay block to
the north, originally arranged as the meeting room and library
of the Torquay Natural History Society; masonic hall above.
Lower roofed block to the south includes doorway in a canted
corner, former robing room and staircase.
EXTERIOR: 3-bay main block with fancy moulded brick corbels
under the eaves. Three 3-light windows, each light
trefoil-headed with brick banding, divided by shafts. The
windows are in chamfered 2-centred arched recesses with
polychromatic detail in the tympanum. 3 corbelled dormers, the
outer ones with 2-light windows matching those below. Central
dormer with battered sides. Masonic symbols in gables.
2-centred triple-chamfered doorway in canted corner with a
brick arch and shafts. Original stone porch hood on brackets;
2-light window over matching the others, 2 one-light
trefoil-headed windows to left of porch. The left return has a
stone Star of David window, the right return has an upper
doorway (converted from a window) reached by a bridge from the
steps up to Vane Hill.
INTERIOR: Open roof to masonic lodge (1985 list description).
Access to interior unobtainable.
A handsome, roguish example of Venetian Gothic Revival.

Listing NGR: SX9199363345

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26502021

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)