Description

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE PROMENADE 630-1/13/737 (North West side) 12/03/55 Nos.47-83 (Odd) and attached railings, with low walls and end piers to Nos.71 and 73

GV II*

Terrace of 19 houses, now Municipal Buildings, with attached railings, piers and low walls. Begun 1823, building continued to c1840, the central portion shown as incomplete on Merrett's map of 1834, and with later additions and alterations including some C19 and C20 ranges to rear. Possibly by George Underwood for the Imperial Estate; built by the Harward Brothers. Ironwork by RE Marshall. Stucco over brick with slate roof where original, and wrought- and iron railings and balconies. EXTERIOR: 4 storeys with basements, 3 first-floor windows each. Stucco detailing includes rustication to ground floor surmounted by first-floor band. Ionic columns to first-floor arcade at recessed ranges and second-floor sill band above. Continuous architraves over second and third floors. Breakforwards to end 6-window ranges and central 15-window range. Central breakforward has further 3-window central and end breakforwards, that to centre has pediment over second floor on 4 fluted Ionic columns with 6 similar pilasters each side. End breakforwards have Doric pilasters to end windows through first and second floors and Band of Greek key fretwork between first and second floors. 6/6 sashes where original, with 3/3 sashes to third floor, all in plain reveals and with sills. Entrances: steps to 6-panel doors where original (upper panels raised and fielded, lower panels with fluted surrounds). Many 6/6 sashes remain to rear and several round-arched staircase windows with 8/8 and 6/6 sashes with radial glazing to heads; also 4/4 sash with radial glazing bars to head and margin-lights. INTERIOR: some original features remain including plasterwork to No.77; narrow-open-well staircases have stick balusters and wreathed handrails, where original. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: entrances to centre bordered by low walls and end panelled piers with cornices, surmounted by lamps. Railings and probably balconies by RE and C Marshall; urn finials stamped 'Marshall'; balconies have central floral motif within a circle. HISTORICAL NOTE: originally the Imperial Estate and Harwards's

Buildings. The central 7 houses were converted into Municipal Offices in 1916. The Promenade was laid out in 1818 as a tree-lined drive to the Sherborne Spa (on the site of the Queen's Hotel (qv)) from the Colonnade in the High Street, by 1826 it was a carriage drive with spacious gravelled walk on each side and originally known as Sherbourne Drive. Buildings on the NW were the first to be developed. Although originally on either side were 'rows of elegant houses, by 1845 when Rowe wrote his Cheltenham Guide (though published in 1850) he noted that 'nearly the whole of the left-hand (SE) side .. is devoted to professional or business establishments'. Verey describes this as 'equal to any terrace in Europe'. An excellent overall design which, outwardly, is the most impressive manifestation in Cheltenham of the style adopted in Nash's grand Regent's Park terraces. Compares well with other examples nationally. (Chatwin A: Cheltenham's Ornamental Ironwork: Cheltenham: 1975-1984: 29,54; The Buildings of England: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: London: 1970-: 132-3,146; Sampson A and Blake S: A Cheltenham Companion: Cheltenham: 1993-: 6,75,84; Williams GA: Guide Book to Cheltenham: 1824-: 29; Rowe G: Illustrated Cheltenham Guide: Cheltenham: 1850-1969: 12; Radford S: The Terraced Houses of Cheltenham 1800-1850: 1992-: 64-73).



Listing NGR: SO9480822279

External Links

• Cheltenham Municipal Offices at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17535656

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)