Earlier Houses: The Grade II-listed Little Oldway was built circa 1850 as Oldway Villa. Set within its own grounds, the villa is sited approximately 130 feet from Oldway Mansion.

Built / Designed For: Isaac Singer

House & Family History: Oldway Mansion was built in the 1870s in the French Renaissance style for Isaac Singer, founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company and one of the world’s richest men (see "Images" section). In the early 20th century the house was remodeled and enlarged by Isaac’s son, Paris Singer, who seems to have been inspired by the French Pavilion (Pavillion Français) at the Petit Trianon, Versailles, and the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris (see "Images" section). The French style continues inside. Sporting a rich variety of colored stones, the Staircase Hall is a copy of Louis XIV’s famous lost masterpiece, the Ambassadors Staircase (Escalier des Ambassadeurs) at Versailles, designed in 1672 by Charles Le Brun and removed by Louis XV to extend his private apartments. Hanging on one of the staircase’s walls is a reproduction (made by Scandachrome in 1995) of the first version of Jacques-Louis David's “The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of Empress Josephine on December 2, 1804” (see “Images” section). Between 1808 and 1822 David painted a second version of the famous painting, which Paris Singer purchased in 1898 and hung in this same spot. This second version was purchased by the French government in 1946 and installed in the Coronation Room at Versailles in 1947 (the first version has hung in the Louvre since 1889). The gallery is a reduced version of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, while the ballroom features a parquet floor à la Versailles and boiseries in the French Regency style. During World War I Oldway Mansion was used as the American Women's War Hospital. The hospital’s patron, Queen Mary, visited in 1914 and the king, George V, came in 1915. In the interwar years the house was the home of the Torbay Country Club. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, the Royal Air Force requisitioned Oldway Mansion and used it to house RAF cadets, a purpose it served until 1945. In 1946 the Singer family sold the house and grounds to Paignton Urban District Council (today Torbay Council) for £46,000, approximately £4.9 million in 2019 inflation-adjusted values using the labour value commodity index. The council opened the grounds as a public park and used the house as offices until 2013, when the building was considered unsafe for occupation.

Comments: Pevsner called Oldway Mansion "stunningly bombastic."

Garden & Outbuildings: The famous French landscape designer Achille Duchêne laid out 17 acres of formal gardens in the Italian style in the early 20th century for Paris Singer. It’s possible that Duchêne, who was laying out formal gardens at Blenheim at the same time for the 9th Duke of Marlborough, may have had a hand in the redesign of the house, helping to create a unified artistic flow between house and garden. The grounds also feature a maze, a rock garden (laid out by F.W. Meyer in 1901), and a grotto garden.

Country Life: Jun 9, 2019.

House Listed: Grade II*

Park Listed: Grade II

Past Seat / Home of: Isaac Merritt Singer, 1870-75; Paris Eugene Singer, 1875-1917.

Current Ownership Type: Government

Primary Current Ownership Use: Unoccupied

Ownership Details: Since 1946 owned by Torbay Council

House Open to Public: Grounds Only

Historic Houses Member: No