History

Third-quarter C18 Georgian town house with some late C19 and early C20 alterations to the rear and interior.

Exterior

Elegant detached 3-storey house. Of brown brick construction (Flemish bond) with rusticated stone quoins (now painted), slate roof and heavy moulded wooden cornice to the facade; 2 central brick stacks. The facade is of 4 bays, with a main 3-bay symmetrical section and a narrow recessed bay to the R (possibly originally a wig-closet bay). Central entrance to the main section with wooden Tuscan porch having an entablature with triglyphs carried on unfluted slender columns; flat parapetted roof with central and corner piers. Original 6-panel door with modern glazing to the upper 4 panels and a 3-pane rectangular overlight. The first and second floors have a 12-pane and a 6-pane sash respectively to the central bay. The outer bays have Venetian-type windows to the ground floor, with 12-pane central sections with arched and intersecting heads; the first floor windows have similar tripartite windows with overall segmental heads, and the upper floor has Diocletian-type windows with intersecting upper central lights, as before; projecting stone sills throughout. All windows are apparently unhorned originals.
The recessed right-hand bay has narrow 8-pane sash windows to each floor with segmental heads and projecting sills; rendered gable ends. The rear of the main block has asymmetrical fenestration with five 9-pane, cambered sashes, and a 12-pane stair light with entrance below (modern door); 2 additional small 4-pane sashes and a 6-pane casement.

Later extensions adjoin to the rear and form an L-plan with the main block. These consist of an early C19 2-storey range and a lower storeyed brick extension adjoining. The former block has a rough-dressed limestone elevation and a tripartite first floor sash with cambered head, together with a series of later C19 or early C20 cell windows. The brick end block has further cell windows and a boarded entrance with cambered head.

In front of the building are plain contemporary forecourt railings with spike finials and urns over stanchions.

Interior

The ground-floor room to the R (now Reception) has a moulded plaster cornice with egg-and-dart and reel decoration, with similar plasterwork also to the ceiling margins. Lugged wooden moulded architrave and original ribbed, panelled door, the upper section now with modern glazed insert panel. The ground floor is extensively sub-divided with modern partitioning.

The staircase survives to the upper floors, and is essentially primary, though it has been simplified and given a new oak rail in the early C20; swept rail and oak stick balusters with oak treads and risers and pierced decoration to tread ends. Moulded cornice to stair well ceiling and to principal first floor rooms, with simple moulded architraves. The fireplaces are generally blocked up and the doors are modern fire door replacements.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its special interest as a fine Georgian town house retaining good external character.

Group value with other listed items in Vale Street; one of a number of fine town houses in this street, historically regarded as the gentry and professional quarter of the town.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29481463

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)