Description

BRIDGWATER

ST2937SE CASTLE STREET
736-1/10/27 (North side)
24/03/50 No.12
(Formerly Listed as:
CASTLE STREET
(North side)
Nos.6-14 (Even)
No.16)

GV I

House. 1723-8 for James Brydges, Duke of Chandos. By Benjamin
Holloway or Fort and Shepherd, the Duke's London surveyors.
Used as a nursing home from c1920-1990. Red and yellow
Flemish-bond brick, probably chequered. Moulded stone coping
to the parapet, cornice, architraves and cills, double-pitch
plain tile roof with a flat roof between the ridges, brick
stacks to gable ends. Double-depth plan.
3 storeys; symmetrical 5-window range. The parapet and cornice
sweep up to the left; the bricks have a vertical joint to the
first floor left and the second floor right. Cyma-moulded
segmental-arched architraves carved from rectangular blocks
set into the brickwork have 6/6-pane sashes, some with crown
glass. The moulded architrave to the door has C20 wooden hood
on brackets flanked by narrow C20 wooden pilasters. Arches to
the cellar.
INTERIOR of ground floor; the rear of the 8-panel door has
plain panelling, large wrought-iron L hinges, lock,
wrought-iron bolts and catches including an opening device for
a central door-knob. The floor is late C19 polychromatic
tiles.
The fine open-well, closed-string staircase to the rear left
corner has turned balusters, turned newels with inverted swept
pyramidal pendants, swept moulded handrail and C20 treads. The
C20 entrance door to rear, formerly a window, has panelled
shutters. The room to the right has ovolo moulding to the tops
of the simple skirting boards, a moulded dado-rail,
full-height raised-and-fielded panelling and a box cornice.
Fireplace to left has an eared architrave to a painted stone
fire surround with moulded and beaded inner arris which has
rounded corners to the top, its moulded wood frame has box
cornice and C20 added mantelshelf; grate is early C20 tiled.
Flanking the fireplace are 2 substantial cupboard doors of 4
raised-and-fielded panels set in wide moulded architraves with
plinths; the panelling above and to the sides is designed to
accommodate them; the back wall of cupboard to right is
painted brick. The cornice is interrupted and returned to
spaces to the centres of front and back walls and that over
fireplace. Small plaster shells are attached to the ceiling in
the spaces, that over fireplace is set into a larger shell,
all of which is set into a hemispherical recess in the
ceiling; below it and that to the front wall have ventilation
grilles below.
The rear wall of room to right has been repositioned to make a
passage behind, it has ovolo moulding to a simple skirting
board, moulded dado rail, full-height raised and fielded
panelling, a box cornice and a fine painted carved wood
fire-surround. This has a moulded cornice stepped forward at
the ends with egg-and-dart moulding below, carved acanthus
leaves to the consoles, 2 richly-carved swags of fruit and
flowers flanking a central vase on the lintel and shell
moulding to a frame around a white marble inset on a plinth.
The complete cellar floor is of brick or similar-sized stone;
2 tunnel vaults run parallel to the street connected by a
cross-vault; wall to right is divided into segmental-arched
storage bays; C20 steel columns support to the front vault.
The terraces of houses in Castle Street form an important
group, unusual for their scale and ambition outside London's
West End.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: South and West Somerset:
London: 1958-: 100; Colvin H: A Biographical Dictionary of
British Architects 1660-1840: London: 1978-: 428; VCH:
Somerset: London: 1992-: 200).

Listing NGR: ST2993037192

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17530016

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)