Description

WORCESTER

SO8455NE BRITANNIA SQUARE
620-1/8/108 (East side)
22/5/54 No.53
St Oswald's and attached
walls
(Formerly Listed as:
BRITANNIA SQUARE
(East side)
No.53
St Oswald's Lodge)

GV II

Villa now school, with boundary walls attached at rear and at
left. c1820 with later additions and alterations. Painted stucco
over brick, coped curvilinear end-gables with stucco stacks,
further stack to rear; reddish-brown brick range at right, slate
roofs. Brick boundary walls with ashlar dressings. Double-depth
plan with central hallway; later service wing to rear and further
range to rear right. 2 storeys and attic, 3 first-floor windows.
Stucco detailing includes plinth, Tuscan pilasters to ends and
between windows surmounted by frieze, cornice and blocking
course. Shell and fan motif over ground-floor windows.
First-floor has outer 8/8 and central 6/6 sashes. Ground-floor
has tall 8/12 sashes in taller round arched reveals. Flight of 4
roll-edged steps to central Doric-style porch with 2 pairs of
columns and engaged pilasters with entablature and blocking
course; six-panel door, upper panels raised and fielded, flush
lower panels, the whole within fluted surround with fleurons to
'capitals'. Fanlight with circle and teardrop motif. Attic roof
dormer has 2/2 sash. Right-return has 6/9 sash with radial
glazing to head. 6/6 sash in gable and further 8/8 sash to
first-floor. Range at right-angles to rear right has 6/6 sash and
three-light window with flat arches of red rubbed brick; hipped
slate roof. Left return has similar pilasters to ends and between
windows; 3/6 sash to gable with further 6/6 and 8/8 sashes. Rear
has 10/15 sash and tripartite window 6/6 between 2/2.
INTERIOR noted as having original joinery including panelled
shutters.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES:: boundary walls to Upper Tything. Walls to
NW side of garden returning to SE along Back Walk for approx 8
metres, then abutting service range and continuing to Back Walk
for approx 8 metres, then returning (with curved angle) to Upper
Tything for approx 10 metres. Double plank gates abut service
range with pilaster at left. Pedestrian entrance to rear (Upper
Tything) has 5-panel door with fanlight with decorative radial
glazing, in Gibbs-type surround, keystone with corbel bracket and
continuous dentil cornice; otherwise wall to Upper Tything
approx. 2.5 metres high and with modillion cornice. Otherwise
garden wall approx 2.5 metres high has 2 pedestrian entrances
with segmental arches. Rear walls to Nos 49-53 (qv) fronting Back
Walk form a continuous original feature of the streetscape.
All the listed buildings in Britannia Square (qv) form a unified
group, started in 1820 and planned around a large green in which
the main house is placed ('Springfield', qv). Compares with
similar, although smaller, developments in Worcester such as
Lansdowne Crescent, Lark Hill, and Rainbow Hill Terrace (qqv).
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Worcestershire: Harmondsworth:
1968-1985: 334).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26317131

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)