Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6779SE ESPLANADE
873-1/20/149 (West side)
12/12/53 No.85
Gloucester Lodge, with The Cork and
Bottle Public House
(Formerly Listed as:
ESPLANADE
No.85
The Gloucester Hotel, Gloucester Row)

GV II*

Formerly known as: Gloucester Lodge GLOUCESTER ROW.
House, later hotel, now apartments and public house. c1780,
major extension to S c1850, interior destroyed by fire and
remodelled 1927. Flemish bond brickwork with limestone
dressings, slate roofs.
PLAN: building is in 2 distinct units, which are described
separately, although constituting one property. The mid C19
block returns to Gloucester Street, and has 6 windows to the
front, but 4+3 to the rear, the end 3 bays being of greater
depth than the remainder; the whole has a double mansard roof
with central valley.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, attic and basement. The Esplanade front
has six 2-light dormers with segmental roofs over lunette
glazing, with haunched pilasters to the cheeks. First and
second floor sashes have stone surrounds; at second floor
these are plat band, with a panelled stone apron linking to
the cornices above moulded architraves to first-floor deep
sashes to a moulded sill band and small individual cast-iron
balconies. Ground floor has a deep projecting balcony with
near-flat roof in 7 large square bays (partly covering the
adjoining range), on square pilasters, and each with 4
vertical panes. The main wall plane has lofty segmental-headed
sashes in painted surrounds and with keystones; bays 1 & 4
have small-pane paired French doors under small-pane transom
lights.
The verandah is carried on cast-iron columns and brackets to
the basement, and the main wall has various doors and windows;
this level is occupied by the Cork and Bottle public house. A
slight plinth, and a deep stone cornice on brackets.
Return to Gloucester Street has single central sash at each
level, with dressings, and to the left a deep square
flat-roofed portico with a panelled door under decorative
fanlight in an arch with keystone, architrave and responds, a
small arched light on each of the returns, and a stone frieze,

cornice and blocking. A further stone cornice at first-floor
sill level continues to the left over a one-storey projecting
wing with wide brick pilasters to 2 blank arches, and with a
large glazed opening on the garden front.
The main block has 2 deep stacks, and the principal cornice is
returned. The back of this range has raking sash dormers above
4-pane sashes to brick voussoirs; a triple sash, with narrow
side-lights and brick mullions, lights the principal stair.
The right-hand range incorporates the originally 2-storey,
8-bay house of 1780, now in 3 floors, 2 levels of attics, and
basement. The centre 4 bays are slightly recessed, with the
main entrance now in bay 6.
To the Esplanade is an upper range of 6 recessed dormers,
above 7 at parapet level, all with paired sashes, but the
central one with triple sash. First and second floors have
small sashes, 12-pane at second floor and 6-pane below. At the
ground floor is a large Palladian window in each end bay, with
glazing-bar sashes and radial heads, in narrow stone
dressings. The recessed section has a deep 12-pane sash, door
with transom light, deep 12-pane, and C20 doors on 8+2 steps
in a deep pedimented portico, brought to the pavement, and
stopping the large glazed bays of the verandah. A small
moulded stone cornice below the second-floor windows; the
raised gables are coped, with large brick stacks.
The rear has 4 upper dormers and 7 at parapet level, all
flat-roofed. The main brick wall, to a plain parapet, contains
small glazing-bar sashes at each level; a group of 4 small
lights, in a slightly stepped unit, and 6 in the main unit.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
The original Gloucester Lodge, occupied by George III from
c1790, was the 8-bay right-hand range, in only 2 storeys and
cellars; a photograph in 'Seaside Weymouth' (Attwooll and
West), shows the building in that state. It had a garden to
the S, now filled by the later range. It is important as
representing royal patronage, which was so vital in the
vigorous growth of Weymouth.
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 355; Attwooll M &
West J: Seaside Weymouth: Weymouth: 1989-: PL 6).

Listing NGR: SY6800179373

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Gloucester House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata IDs Q17554098 Q5572064

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)