Description

ROCHESTER HIGH STREET (SW) TQ 7468 NW 7/55 No 42 (Cloudesley House), with walls 24.10.50 attached at rear GV II* House, formerly bank. Date: last quarter of C18 (MHLG list gives date as 1778). 3 storeys with attics, 3 bays Flemish bond plain coloured brick, painted brick facade. Kent tile roof. Ground floor has 3 arched openings on moulded imposts, 2 round-headed 12 pane sashes with glazing bars recessed within; central recessed 2 leaf 2 panel door with moulded return and soffit under fanlight with lead glazing bars. First floor plat band, 3 first floor 10 pane and 3 second floor 12 pane hornless sashes, all with glazing bars, under flat rubbed brick arches. Segmental cast iron balconies to first floor windows. Applique plaster swags hanging from 2 roundels originally with "Phoenix Printing Office" legend. Projecting attic cornice, tripartite parapet pierced with 2 rows of balasters. Central hipped dormer with moulded gable. Return to The Post Alley (south west) has 2 half landing arched hornless sashes with glazing bars. Side entrance 2 panel door with fanlight, decorated upper architrave. Parapet with 2 stacks. Flat roofed former banking hall extension at rear c.1800 has 3 sashes with thin cast-iron glazing bar divisions under flat rubbed brick arches. Rear first and second floor elevation of house has 2 16 pane hornless sashes with glazing bars under flat rubbed brick arches. Downpipe with lead hopper, dated 1790. Interior: Dogleg staircase, 3 slights, thin balusters, each third baluster of cast-iron, ramped handrail. Ground floor plan and details replaced, except for side entrance and stairs. First floor landing has plaster frieze and dado rail. Room at front has good wooden architrave door surround with frieze with rondels. 6 panel raised and fielded doors walnut stained to simulate mahogany. Stripped fireplace with grapes and swags in frieze. Room at rear has wooden dado rail and door architrave plaster cornice with frieze with urns and swags. Second floor landing with anthemion brackets. Plaster work all of high quality. Handbill of 1790 for Phoenix Printing Office and Rochester and Chatham and Strood bank at this house shows facade as extant.

Listing NGR: TQ7425368657

External Links

• Wikidata Q17551572

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Recommended Books

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)