The Egyptian House is a

grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in the Cornish town of

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

. It is built in the style of

Egyptian Revival architecture Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's French campaign in Egypt and Syria, invasion of ...

and has been in the ownership of the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

since the 1970s. The current building dates from 1835 to 1836.

History

The building is at 6–7 Chapel Street, Penzance. An older building on the site was owned by Richard Hitchens of

Madron Madron ( (village) or (parish)) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Madron is named after Saint Madern's Church. Its annual Trafalgar Service commemorating the death of Horatio ...

and later, John Fleming, (described as Perukemaker). The site or building was put up for auction on 3 April 1835 by James Tregarthen, a

master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of licensed seafarer qualification; namely, a master's license. A master mariner is therefore allowed to serve as the captain (nautical), master of a merchant ship for which natio ...

St Mary's, Isles of Scilly St Mary's () is the largest and most populous island of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwest coast of Cornwall in England, United Kingdom. Description St Mary's has an area of — 40 percent of the total land area of the Isles ...

and was purchased by John Lavin, a

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

of Penzance.Laws, Peter. ''A Review of the Architecture of Penzance''. In: Pool, Peter A S (1974). ''The History of the Town and Borough of Penzance.'' Penzance: Corporation of Penzance. There is some dispute over the architect and the date of build. George Clement Boase (1890) writes that the Egyptian Hall was built by John Lavin, and a deed of 1850 states that he occupied 6–7 Chapel Street and ″... some time since erected and built by him.″ In ''Reminiscences of Penzance'' (1883) the house was built in about 1839, ″.... which was built in imitation of the

Egyptian Hall The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, was an exhibition hall built in the ancient Egyptian style in 1812, to the designs of Peter Frederick Robinson. The Hall was a considerable success, with exhibitions of artwork and of Napoleonic era re ...

, Piccadilly, London .... Laws (1974) writes that John Foulston of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

may be the architect. Foulston designed the Classical and Mathematical School, Ker Street, Devonport in 1823 which the Penzance building closely resembles. There is an assertion that the Chapel Street building is an exact copy of Peter Robinson's 1811–12 museum in

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

, London, which is not correct. Although an 1883 account (see above) states that it was an ″imitation″. Robinson rebuilt Trelissick the seat of Thomas Daniell in 1824–25. In his ''Guide to Penzance'', published in 1845, J S Courtney describes the building as ".... the astonishing gaudy and eccentric Egyptian House recently built by John Lavin, mineralogist and Egyptologist". Mineral collectors visited the building to see and purchase from Mr Lavin's collection. His son, Edwin Lavin, in about 1865, sold the collection for £3000 to Baroness Burdett Coutts who donated it to the University Museum,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. In 1878 and 1879, the property is described as ″The Library″ in weekly advertisements in '' The Cornishman'' newspaper, and states that Mrs Daves stocks ″a large and complete stock of

berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and other wools, stationery, useful and ornamental articles″. Mrs Daves moved her business to nearby Queen Square in March 1882. The building was later neglected and was repainted "brightly but inexpertly" by Norman Shipton in 1960. In 1973, it was acquired by the

and

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...

, which had been erected for several years, was removed to reveal a refurbished building and a new exterior colour scheme of brown and creams. The architect Paul Pearn of Plymouth concluded that these were the original colours after stripping layers of paint from the elaborate mouldings which were mainly of

coade stone Coade stone or ''Lithodipyra'' or ''Lithodipra'' () is stoneware that was often described as an artificial stone in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was used for moulding neoclassical architecture, neoclassical statues, a ...

. The building continues to be managed by the Landmark Trust, with two shops on the ground floor and holiday accommodation on the upper floors.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Houses completed in 1836 Grade I listed buildings in Cornwall Grade I listed houses Houses in Cornwall Landmark Trust Buildings and structures in Penzance Egyptian Revival architecture in the United Kingdom