Description

The following entry shall be added:

TQ 3682
788-/11/261
29/12/50

TREDEGAR SQUARE
(north side)
No. 26

GV
II*

Terraced house. Completed in carcass 1827, interior fitted out in 1836-7. Forms part of an
important terrace with classical stucco treatment, arranged as three linked 3-storey ranges. No.
26 comprises one decorated end of the centrepiece, with Ionic columns in antis under deep
cornice, over rusticated ground floor; a two-storey link building with a round-headed window
between pilasters under a pediment; and the former no. 25 of two bays, that to the right slightly
projecting, and both with round-headed ground-floor windows and first floor architrave
surrounds.
This has always been the largest and grandest house in the terrace, but is remarkable for the
painted decoration in its first floor front room, which consists of a series of painted papers and
panels in the style made popular by J G Crace in the late 1830s but which are now
exceptionally rare, especially in so relatively ordinary a house. Ceiling with stencilled decoration.
Four wall panels flank the entrance and chimney breast opposite, and four the front and rear
windows; the panel above the chimney breast is painted in the same style. They are executed
in a variety of media on paper and board glued to the walls. The four larger panels have a green
border drawn into a shallow arch at the top. By this simple device the panels are given scale and
an almost architectonic quality. Inside this border there is a 'frame' picked out in gold stencil.
At the centre of each arched panel is a roundel depicting putti with various attributes. These
are executed in oil on paper which has been pasted down on top of the painted wall paper. The
roundels are set off by a pair of birds resting on delicate bars of ornament. Floral swags and
naturalistic foliage sit inside this frame. The motifs are various and include ivy branches, bamboo
leaves, acanthus leaves, ribbons, a goldfish bowl, a vase and a pair of birds. The roundels
represent the arts and sciences. The quality of execution is high throughout and in places
brilliant.

Listing NGR: TQ3659582806

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q93901569

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)