Description

SX 9291 EXETER, FORMER CB TOPSHAM ROAD
St Leonards
871/15/10027
Devon County Hall

GV II*

County Hall: council chamber, associated suite, and local government offices. Designed 1955; built 1958-64. Designed by Donald McMorran. Buff brickwork, granite, low-pitched masonry slated roof. Courtyard plan with three to four storey building culminating in tower and council chamber, connected to the circa 1700 house "Bellair" (already listed). Varied treatment to elevations in McMorran's idiosyncratic classical manner. Some windows square headed, but in certain areas segmental headed for emphasis. Vaulted undercroft to entrance with segmental arches. Semi-circular arches to link with "Bellair". Tower has much blind brickwork above roof level topped by paired semi-circular headed bell louvres to each face with clock between, and bell above, on one face. A major civic work by McMorran, one of the most important architects to continue working in a sophisticated neo-classical idiom during the 1950s and 1960s. The building is of a very high quality throughout in terms of its materials, finishes, furnishings and craftsmanship, including the use of many local materials.

Listing NGR: SX9295891644

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Devon County Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17547877

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)