Description

BRISTOL

ST5773SE QUEEN'S ROAD, Clifton 901-1/9/957 (East side) 04/03/77 Royal West of England Academy

GV II*

Art gallery. 1857. Interiors by C Underwood. Facade by JR Hirst. Altered 1912 by SS Reay and H Dare Bryan. Limestone ashlar with lateral stacks, roof not visble. Double-depth plan. Italianate style. 2 storeys and attic; 6-window range. 3 stepped tiers, the C19 ground-floor set forward. Banded rustication to the ground floor to a cornice, parapet with balustraded sections over the windows; the entrances at the ends and centre set forward, the outer ones have architraves, lintels inscribed STUDIOS to the left, and SCHOOL OF ART to the right, triglyphs to frieze above, and 2-leaf 8-panel doors, the middle one in a porch with fluted Doric columns to a frieze and cornice, with heraldic carving of a cartouche held by beasts above. 3 semicircular-arched windows between with glazing bars. The first floor is in 3 sections, the outer ones articulated by paired Corinthian pilasters flanking large shell head niches with statues of Flaxman and Reynolds, with impost bands and subsidiary pilasters to the middle, and balustrades above with draped urn finials; between are 5 keyed semicircular-arched windows articulated by attached Corinthian columns, to a frieze and modillion cornice. The blind attic is in 5 sections articulated by pilasters to a frieze and cornice, balustrade to the outer sections with 3 inscribed panels between, and 5 lunette niches with allegorical carvings. A large carving of 3 female figures crowns the parapet; large stacks each side with corbelled cornices. INTERIOR: fine interior with much coloured marble: entrance lobby with fluted pilasters, an imperial stair with black turned balusters and rail, and large newel plinths with cast-iron lamps with bowls; pedimented statue niche on the half-landing; similar first-floor lobby has a coffered, domed ceiling, and spandrels painted by Walter Crane; exhibition rooms have Greek carved friezes below cornices with acroteria; doorcases have panelled reveals, dentil cornices and 6-panel doors. NOTE: the original external stair was enclosed by Reay, working to drawings by Bryan, who also glazed the piano nobile and vaulted the first-floor lobby. Part of an outstanding group of civic buildings, and a fine example of its type. (Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 349; Crick C: Victorian Buildings in Bristol: Bristol: 1975-: 33; Winstone R: Bristol As It Was: Bristol).

Listing NGR: ST5783473418

External Links

• Royal West of England Academy at Wikipedia
• Royal West of England Academy official website
• Wikidata Q7375007

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.

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