Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6878NW ESPLANADE
873-1/24/117 (West side)
18/06/70 Nos.31 AND 32
Oxford Hotel, Grosvenor Place
(terrace), with railings

GV II

Marked on OS as Nos 1 and 2 Grosvenor Place.
Pair of houses in row, now hotel. Late C18 and early C19.
No.31 is rendered and scribed, with Portland stone flank wall,
and No.32 painted brickwork, both with brickwork rear walls,
all with slate roof. The building has a return to St Alban
Street to the left, with a former entry, now blocked; this
half was built in the late C18 as a 2-storey double-fronted
house, raised by a further storey in the early C19, and No.32,
slightly set back, was added in the early C19. The fronts are
C19, with C20 roof storey.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, attic and basement, 2+2 windows.
Full-width late C20 dormers with steel sashes to each house,
above 3-storey plain sash canted oriels, with panelled skirts,
and with pilaster mullions to No.31, and fluted friezes to the
individual sashes in No.32, above tripartite sash basement
windows in very narrow areas. To the left of the oriel in
No.32 are plain sashes in flush moulded boxes, with wide brick
voussoirs, above a glazed door under elliptical plain
fanlight, all in a Doric pilaster doorcase with fluted frieze
and dentil entablature, on 7 plain steps.
There are plat bands at ground and first floors, and a moulded
cornice dying to the panelled skirts of the oriels at first
floor to No.31; here the oriels have dentil cornices, but
small modillion cornices at the added second floor, with a
continuous moulded cornice.
No.32 has plat bands, and a small blocking-course with coped
parapet; the oriel has dentil cornices at each level. There
are stacks to each gable end.
The return to St Alban Street is in painted Portland stone
block, raised in brick in the top storey. A 4-pane sash above
a 4:12:4-pane sash canted oriel, a plain sash, and a small
6-pane, all to the left, and a blocked doorway at the centre,
the former entry to No.31. A 1-bay extension, with flat roof,
includes a 16-pane sash.
The back is in unpainted English bond brickwork, with hipped
dormers and large plain sashes in flush boxes.
INTERIOR: considerably modified, but retains a full-height
tight dogleg staircase with stick balustrade and a swept

handrail.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: across the frontages are area railings;
to No.31 these are light-weight spearhead, returned in
quadrants at each end, and to No.32 more robust, with urn
finials, and bold standards, returned to the right of the
steps to the door.
HISTORICAL NOTE: built as 2 houses, the property in the early
C20 was used as workrooms and showrooms by Gieves, naval
tailors, with staff accommodation on the top floors
(information from owners).
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 354).

Listing NGR: SY6807378901

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26439094

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)