Description

ST JAMES'S ROAD
1.
5104 Edgbaston B15
No 16 (The Round House)
SP 0585 NE 40/46
II 26.8.81
2.
A good example of a stucco cottage ornee combining the picturesque Italian
rustic manner with gothic-Tudor details. The central cornical roofed rotunda
was originally built as a freestanding folly circa 1810, in grounds that were
then part of No 29 George Road. The wings to the garden front and the wings
on the roadside were added circa 1830 on conversion to a separate dwelling.
Further addition of service wing on west side circa 1860-70 and some early
C20 alterations. The rotunda on 2 storeys, rising above the single storey
wings, has a conical graded slate roof with very deep overhang to eaves.
As originally built it was probably thatched. Crowning stucco chimney with
Victorian ornamental pots has attached dovecote gable to one side. The wings
have hipped slate roofs with flat eaves, the roofs over link sections wrapped
around the rotunda. The lean-to forebuilding with the entrance in the angle,
to right hand of road front, has been much altered this century. Random fenestration:
the tower retaining an assortment of pointed arch casements, one on first
floor very small; the wings have drip moulds over their casements and there
is an oval window in the left hand wing. On the garden front the 1830 wings
symmetrically flank the rotunda, terminating in slightly advanced bays containing
late C19 French windows. The hipped slate roofs, with overhanging eaves,
are gracefully swept around the rotunda over the link sections which have
2 light casements with drip moulds. On this front the rotunda has centrally
placed 2 light leaded casements, that on first floor original with pointed
arches to lights. The 2 storey late C19 service wing has exposed brickwork
to its west flank. Inside the house was considerably altered in the early
C20: door furniture, staircase etc, but the ground floor room of the rotunda,
facing the garden, a small mantlepiece with roundel corner blocks and cornice-shelf.

Listing NGR: SP0590885629

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26340605

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

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record