Description

HARWICH

TM2531 ORWELL ROAD, Dovercourt
609-1/7/198 (North East side)
20/06/72 Nos.1-13 (Consecutive)
and The Convent

GV II

Formerly known as: Banksea House Dovercourt.
Terrace of marine residences now mostly flats with attached
railings. 1851 to late 1850s. Brick with Roman cement render
and Welsh slate Mansard roof over main range, flat roofs over
end blocks.
PLAN: main range (Nos 1-12) of 3 storeys with attics and
basements and NW and SE blocks of 4 storeys with basements.
EXTERIOR: the main range consists of 12 houses in handed
pairs. The centre of each pair breaks forward slightly forming
a regular series of recesses and projections. Each projecting
part has 2 segmental-roofed dormers now with mixture of
windows, the originals being double-hung sashes with margin
glazing and single vertical glazing bar, the upper sash
curved. Each party wall is taken above the mansard with long
party wall stacks. Plain parapet now pierced with mixture of
semicircular and rectangular cut-outs to dormers. Prominent
cornice on brackets and pulvinated frieze.
Second floor has 2 narrow unsubdivided double-hung sash
windows with plaster moulded surrounds. First floor has 2
similar deeper windows with semicircular-headed moulded
surround and set in slight recess. Ground floor, as elsewhere
in complete complex, has Doric pilasters, entablature and
cornice forming base.
This treatment is carried round paired, projecting flat-roofed
porches each with a semicircular arch-headed window in its
flanks. Iron bootscraper beside each front door. Front doors
of Nos 1, 2 & 5-9 have 2 vertical panels, Nos 3 & 4 have 6
raised-and-fielded panels. Others are C20.
Elevation of recessed part has 2 similar dormers. Second floor
has 2 square double-hung sash windows with margin glazing,
central vertical glazing bars and moulded plaster frames.
First floor has 2 aedicule pedimented windows with eared,
upward-tapering architraves. These have margin glazing and
central horizontal glazing bar to each sash. These reach to
floor level and each has a projecting balcony on brackets with
X-pattern iron railings between rectangular corner piers
(formerly with ball finials).
Ground floor has tripartite arrangement of central and 2
narrow double-hung sash windows with margin glazing set
between pilasters. Similar arrangement to basement but with
small panes.
Wing walls project between each unit within recessions with
pier and wrought-iron railings linking with porches and
enclosing basement area. These have adorned 'halberds' as main
supports with scroll backstays and minor bars have pronounced
spearheads. Stone-paved terrace with granite curbing, fronts
Nos 1-12 with remnants of iron railings at northern end. Each
unit has stone step from road level and iron coal-shute cover
to cellar beneath. The 2 larger end units are taken up to 4
storeys with flat-leaded roofs behind parapets. The pilaster
base treatment is carried through and each block has banded
giant pilaster and quoin treatment to corners.
The south-west facade of The Convent has similar cornice
carried through below 4th floor and this is broken and arched
over a window of 3rd floor where facade breaks forward
slightly. Third floor has 2 square double-hung sash windows
with 2 vertical glazing bars and one narrow double-hung sash,
all with plaster frames. The second floor has one narrow and 2
wide double-hung sashes with pilasters and straight
entablature and floor level sills on consoles enclosing apron
panels. First floor has one narrow double-hung sash and 2 with
semicircular-headed pediments. Single projecting porch on
ground floor.
The seaward elevation of The Convent employs similar motifs
but with more variety and windows of 2nd and 3rd floors are
linked. One half of this facade projects with banded
pilasters/quoins and with projecting pilastered canted bay
with pilasters and balustrade. The SW elevation of No.13
employs similar motifs with the centre of 3 window range
breaking forward slightly and with projecting similar porch
and separate terrace/steps.
The NE elevation, overlooking Cliff Park is treated as an
unbroken range but with The Convent and No.13 breaking forward
and surmounted by pediments. General arrangement of facades is
similar to SE but with continuous stone balcony at 1st-floor
level, supported on pierced brackets and breaking forward at
end pavilions. This has simple iron handrail (By Coopers of
Ipswich). First-floor windows have aedicules with pediments as
elsewhere. Ground floor treatment has large frame French
windows between pilasters.
INTERIORS of Nos 7 & 8 (still single houses) remain
substantially intact. Narrow but elegant well staircases with
winder corners, continuous curved soffits, continuous hardwood
handrails and alternating iron balustrade of oval loops with
anthemion motif and foliate sticks. Variety of richly applied
cornices of neo-classical patterns including guilloche and
egg-and-dart, varied from room to room and unit to unit.
Plaster ceiling roses, plaster skirtings and contemporary
panelled doors and moulded architraves. Cornice to porch of
No.8 has standing leaves. Standard pattern marble fireplaces
with shelf on consoles, white on first floor and black to main
ground floor room.
The interior of The Convent is similar but on a larger scale
with staircase bridging over a lower flight to reach 3rd
floor. This house has semicircular arches within entrance
lobby and on first-floor landing with free-standing lintel
with rounded decorations. Attics have soft water cisterns to
collect water from roofs. Rear gardens are Bagshaw MP, the
only completed part of Dovercourt New Town.
This monumental project was designed by WH Lindsey, a London
architect. Bagshaw was declared bankrupt in 1859 and the
necessary land was broken up. The project as built was loosely
based on that part of Lindsey's scheme, but the name of a
Dovercourt architect, Horace Darken, appears on sale
documents.

Listing NGR: TM2580631624

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26585952

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living