Description

BRISTOL

ST5673NE CLIFTON DOWN, Clifton
901-1/1/746 (North East side)
04/03/77 Avonbank and Llanfoist and attached
front garden walls, piers and gates
(Formerly Listed as:
CLIFTON DOWNS
Lanfoist and Avonbank)

GV II

Pair of attached houses, now offices. 1857. By Henry Goodrich.
Squared, coursed Carboniferous limestone rubble, with
limestone dressings, exterior and party wall stacks and a
double-pile pantile hipped roof. Double-depth plan. Italianate
style. Each of 3 storeys and basement; 3-window range.
A near-symmetrical front divided by a rusticated quoin strip,
with taller outer towers set forward with pyramidal roofs, and
2-storey entrance blocks to the ends; rusticated quoins and
dressings, vermiculated on the ground floor, string courses at
sill height breaking forward over the quoins are incised with
Greek key on the first floor, and Vitruvian scroll on the
second.
The entrance to Llanfoist is in the right return, under a
segmental-arched porte-cochere with balusters carried over
from Sutton House (qv), with an open segmental arch to a small
bayed lobby and semicircular-arched doorway with fanlight and
6-panel door.
The entrance to Avonbank in the left-hand block has Gibbs
blocks to a segmental arch, and doorway as Llanfoist. Outer
first-floor semicircular-arched 2-light windows in square
frames with cornices, containing semicircular-arched panes
with a round one above, and stone balconies on heavy brackets,
with lion heads biting rings.
The towers have wide 5-light bays with semicircular-arched
windows with carved keys, and ball finials cut through by
square sections. Smaller 3-light bows above have panelled
pilaster jambs with acanthus capitals and cornices; the second
floors of the towers have a frieze incised with Greek key, and
moulded eaves and ball finials. The middle windows are as the
outer sections, with keyed segmental-arched heads on the
second floor.
The right return has ground-floor window as the front, and a
central semicircular-arched arcades to the first floor. The
left return has a central tripartite window with blocked
jambs, and a Venetian window above. Rear elevation has a
left-hand full-height canted bay, a pedimented section to the
right with tripartite windows, and a projected 5-light bay
with a copper domed roof.
INTERIOR: details of Llanfoist include good Greek
Revival-style plaster decoration, with a large lateral stair
hall divided each end by a segmental arch, with a good
cantilevered stone open-well stair with moulded soffit,
wrought-iron barleysugar balusters and a curtail, lit by a
lantern with bayleaf decoration; scrolled brackets to a
cornice over the entrance doorway; panelled reveals, 6-panel
doors, and shutters; marble fire surrounds.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached squared, coursed rubble walls to
front garden, battered to the base with bracketed coping,
ashlar piers and timber gates with decorative cast-iron
panels. Part of a group of 4 imposing houses fronting the
Downs.
(Gomme A: Street Index of Buildings of Architectural or
Historic Interest: 14).

Listing NGR: ST5668373876

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26571314

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

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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
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  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)