Oldway Mansion built by Isaac Merritt Singer in 1874 and adapted to its present form by his son Paris Singer in 1904

Isaac Merritt Singer was the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He bought the Fernham estate in Paignton in 1871. The old buildings on the site were demolished and he commissioned a local architect, George Soudon Bridgman to build a new mansion as his home. He died in1875, shortly before work on the original mansion was completed.Paris Eugene Singer, Isaac Singer's third son, supervised the alterations at Oldway Mansion between 1904 and 1907. The rebuilding work was modelled on the Palace of Versailles.In 1917, after an affair with Isadora Duncan, Paris moved to America.