Description

WELLS

ST5445 HIGH STREET
662-1/7/131 (North side)
12/11/53 No.64
Avenue House, with boundary walls

GV II

Former town house, now offices. c1800, but with some earlier
fabric to the lower ground floor. Rendered over rubble; hipped
Welsh slate roof behind parapet, brick chimney stacks.
Double-depth plan.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 4 bays, of which that to the right may be
of later date. Plinth, rusticated work to ground floor, end
pilasters, band courses, coved cornice and coved coping to
parapet. Ground floor has margin-paned french windows with
matching toplights to bays 1 and 3, and a 6-panel door bay 2.
In bay 4, set at a higher level, over a basement window, a
pair of semicircular arched french doors. First floor has
large 12-pane sash windows extending almost to floor level,
set in architraves, with margin-paned french doors in matching
opening to bay 2 and a small 12-pane sash window in bay 4,
second floor has smaller 12-pane sash windows in architraves
bays 1, 2 and 3 and a small 4-pane sash bay 4. Extending
across bays 1 to 3 for ground and first floors is a cast-iron
verandah/ balcony, highly ornamented, with bell-hip metal
roof. Similar ironwork to raised balcony ground floor bay 4,
and extending as a railing along the edge of the forecourt.
The left-hand return is entirely plain, with 2 very tall eaves
stacks; there is a further stack behind the ridge. to the
right.
Rear elevation relatively plain, but featuring a semicircular
arched 21-pane stair window starting at mezzanine level and
extending through two floors, and mostly 12-pane sash windows
in architraves, small single storey extension in NW corner, in
front of which is a sunken area with very early C19 cast-iron
railings. At the lower ground level is a large tripartite sash
with 18:18:18-panes and mullion boxes, under a moulded stone
drip-course with dropped ends, probably from earlier fabric.
INTERIOR: despite conversion to offices and loss of some
fireplaces, most original features remain, such as ceiling
cornice, some fine mahogany 6-panel doors and the doorcases,
and the staircase which has a curled hardwood handrail base
and cast-iron balustrading.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: extending from both corners of the front
elevation boundary walls of 4m to 5m height, mostly stone but
with brick top to west side, with sweeps up to second-floor
band course level.

Listing NGR: ST5479445679

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26662986

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey