The Barn, Exmouth

The Barn, in Exmouth, Devon, England, is a seaside house, now a hotel, dating from 1896 and designed in Arts and Crafts style by the architect Edward Schroeder Prior.

Based on what became known as a butterfly plan, the design was similar to that of a cottage model exhibited to considerable acclaim by Prior at the Royal Academy in 1895.

Other alterations to the model scheme included a basement darkroom and a lift, and floor level changes to accommodate the site's topography.

The wings embrace the entrance courtyard at the front, and at the back open up the house into the garden through a roughed verandah.

Prior described the aims of this planning and aesthetic: "Its enclosing walls, 9ft high and thatched for coping, will give shade; its angles provide arbours and shelter from every wind, so that hour by hour, and day after day, there can always be ease and delight in it and never monotony as the seasons come and go and cloud and sunshine alternate."

Horizontality is emphasised by the linearity of the casement windows and the verandah, verticality by the central gable and tall, slender chimney stacks.

Pebbles from the beach and river are embedded in the mass concrete, adding pattern and texture to the walls.

The large chimney stacks were lined with terracotta flues and cased in sandstone with spark arresters.

The upper floors were constructed of concrete reinforced with nine inch logs at two and a half foot centres.

It is not known whether Prior used a traditional contract system, or the clerk of works and day labour approach he operated at Home Place, Kelling and the Burton Bradstock Church restoration scheme.