{"entry-date":"1988-12-19","start-date":"1988-12-19","end-date":"","entity":42148030,"name":"The Manor House (Rnib)","dataset":"listed-building-outline","typology":"geography","reference":"390711","prefix":"listed-building-outline","organisation-entity":344,"geometry":"MULTIPOLYGON (((-3.507471 50.460225, -3.507491 50.460213, -3.507496 50.460217, -3.507493 50.460227, -3.507508 50.46023, -3.507511 50.460219, -3.507565 50.460197, -3.507576 50.460199, -3.507579 50.46019, -3.507569 50.460189, -3.507528 50.460155, -3.507531 50.460146, -3.507519 50.460144, -3.507516 50.460156, -3.50746 50.460179, -3.50742 50.460173, -3.50743 50.46013, -3.507335 50.460118, -3.507332 50.460129, -3.507184 50.46011, -3.507189 50.460096, -3.507154 50.460092, -3.507156 50.460084, -3.507139 50.460081, -3.507137 50.460089, -3.507104 50.460085, -3.5071 50.4601, -3.507085 50.460098, -3.507066 50.460162, -3.507075 50.460163, -3.507051 50.460249, -3.507069 50.460251, -3.507061 50.460282, -3.507082 50.460285, -3.507076 50.460302, -3.507019 50.460296, -3.50702 50.460291, -3.506991 50.460287, -3.506974 50.460294, -3.506968 50.460312, -3.506978 50.460319, -3.506967 50.460356, -3.507152 50.460379, -3.507155 50.46037, -3.507188 50.460374, -3.507186 50.46038, -3.507214 50.460383, -3.507198 50.460434, -3.507289 50.460446, -3.507293 50.460434, -3.507796 50.460491, -3.507832 50.460371, -3.507854 50.460373, -3.507859 50.460354, -3.507748 50.46034, -3.507628 50.460315, -3.507616 50.460357, -3.507658 50.460363, -3.507683 50.460384, -3.507735 50.46039, -3.507722 50.460432, -3.507606 50.460417, -3.50761 50.460404, -3.507533 50.460393, -3.50753 50.460403, -3.507392 50.460385, -3.507399 50.460363, -3.50741 50.460364, -3.507421 50.460314, -3.507413 50.460313, -3.507434 50.460259, -3.507466 50.460246, -3.507471 50.460225)))","point":"POINT (-3.507347 50.460298)","quality":"authoritative","notes":"House, now training centre. 1862-4 and c1890 by JR Rowell for Sir Lawrence Palk. Random coursed limestone with stone dressings and slate roofs. Large semi-rural house in restrained Gothic style. PLAN: Rectangular block disposed round central stair hall, kitchen and stable court to north west, billiard room added to north-east corner c1890. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics to the main block, 2 storeys to the wing. The main elevation to the garden is on the south side and comprises five bays, each of 2-and-a-half storeys with the central bays recessed. There are 2- and 3-light stone mullioned windows with vertical sashes and those on the ground floor have transoms. Above the lintels are stone relieving arches. The dormer gables have decorative bargeboards with cross braces. The right-hand bay is half-hipped with bargeboards with a 3-light oriel window at first floor upon a supporting buttress with ballflower and zig-zag decorated oversailing courses. At ground floor level there are two pointed-arch windows. At the south-west corner there is an angled porte-cochere. This is a high single-storey structure with plate tracery, balustrading and coats of arms. The angled buttresses support octagonal finials above at each corner and there are two lights within a semicircular relieving arch on the south-west wall. The segmental-pointed carriage arches are in polychrome stonework and the one to the garden side has at sometime been boarded up. There is a patterned marble floor and encaustic tiling in the vestibule. The billiard room (now dining room) appears to have been added at the north-east corner in c1890. This has an attractive stone mullion and transomed corner window with an octagonal spire above at the south-eastern corner. To the rear of the main house is a range of stables and coach houses. The main elevation is of coursed rubble limestone with dressed stone quoins and window details. It is of 7 bays of 1-and-a-half storeys height with a central 2-storey gabled clock tower with bell-cote over the carriage entrance. INTERIOR: The main entrance hall is a high 2-storey space with a gallery around the first floor. An imperial staircase with a 5-light stained glass window at the landing contains the coats of arms of the family. There is an ornamental stone fireplace with a French Gothic hood to the ground floor of the hall and similar fireplaces and overmantels exist in the other principal ground-floor rooms, several being of an elaborate Jacobean character. The dining room (former billiard room) at the rear has an interesting barrel-vaulted ceiling with a full-height hood over the fireplace in the eastern gable wall. The original joinery and plasterwork is almost complete throughout the house. HISTORICAL NOTE: The Palk family were responsible for much of the early development of Torquay during the first part of the 19th century, particularly the Lincombe and Warberry areas. Sir Lawrence was a major benefactor to the town and later became Baron Haldon of Haldon in April 1880. He died in 1883. The house also has associations with Sir Francis Layland-Barratt who purchased the manor in 1906. The manor is now the centre for the Royal National Institution for the Blind and is used as their national rehabilitation centre. A number of alterations have been made to facilitate the use of the building for this purpose, but these are of a minor nature and it remains a remarkably unaltered example of a large Victorian family house. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1952-1989: P.860). Listing NGR: SX9310963369","listed-building":"1292275"}