Description

BRIDGWATER

ST2936NE BLAKE STREET 736-1/11/11 (East side) 16/12/74 No.3 and attached wall to the rear

GV II

House, now offices. C17; remodelled and rebuilt in late C18/early C19; late C19 rear left wing, with gable of same date added to left of front. English-bond brick with some rubblestone to the base, stone coping, moulded kneelers and bands to forward-facing gable, stone cills, pantile roof with brick stacks to left and rear gable ends and stack with moulded brick cornice to the centre ridge. Double-depth plan with late C19 rear left wing. 3 storeys; 4-window range. The exterior walls of the original C17 house are still apparent well inside the C19 building. The late C19 forward-facing gable to the 2 left-hand ranges has 2 slits in the apex between stone bands. Windows to upper floors have flat brick arches to large 6/6-pane sash windows. The 6-panel door with C20 hood to left of centre has a late C19 single-storey canted bay with margin panes to the far left and two C20 casement windows to the right. The left return is Flemish-bond brick. 2 storeys; 3-window range. 6/6-pane sash windows, those to left are tripartite and those to the first floor pass through the eaves line to form late C19 gabled half-dormers lighting the hammer-beam roof inside. The rear has a late C19 two-storey canted bay with 4/4-pane sash windows with margin panes to the ground floor which has restored rendering and cornice; the first floor is C20 weatherboarded with a 9/9-pane sash window to front and vertical 4/6-pane sashes to sides. To right is a semi-elliptical arch to the service area with 6/6-pane sash window above. The right return of the rear wing, clad with painted corrugated iron, has coloured glass to an early C19 semicircular-arched stair window and a single-storey lean-to with a pantile roof and a wide horizontal sash window. The lean-to and the courtyard are stone-flagged. INTERIOR: the exterior walls of the C17 building are distinguishable from those of the C19 by their thickness. The corner of the original building inside the semi-basement to the front left now serves as an interior wall; painted rubblestone with stone plinth capping. This basement also has a repositioned planked and studded door, a C18 door with 4 raised-and-fielded panels, some stone flags and 2 segmental arches to former open fires, that to right framed with early C19 cast-iron panels with anthemion motifs. An early C19 stair hall with staircase was added to the right return and at each landing a semicircular-arched opening has been cut into the thick former outer wall to give access to the C17 newel stair inside. This is in the former front right corner and has a low mid C19 dado rail with panels below, some raised and fielded. Between the first and second floors is a blocked door into the adjacent museum; at this level a semicircular arch made from thin wood with moulded pilasters spans the stairs; just below to right, a jib door, now fixed, cut through the dado and panelling, leads in the same direction. At the top of the newel stairs a heavy planked and studded door with diagonal planks to the back and bar stops to the Tudor-arched moulded architrave, opens into a room with wide oak floorboards and a cupboard with raised-and-fielded panels and H hinges. A locked door leads to the attic (unseen). The late C19 rear wing has an elaborate hammer-beam roof on stone corbels to the second floor and splayed panelled reveals to the first-floor windows. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a high brick wall to the rear right sweeps up to meet the first floor of the Admiral Blake Museum (qv) and encloses the rear service yard.

Listing NGR: ST2999536917

External Links

• Wikidata Q26584787

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6