Description

899/0/10041 OSBORN ROAD
25-FEB-08 24
THE GRANGE

GV II
House, late 1860s, by George Rake. With minor later alterations to the rear including the addition of a C20 conservatory.

EXTERIOR: two and a half storeys with galletted flint elevations dressed with yellow brick quoins, window surrounds and slate roofs. The house has strong compositional qualities in its asymmetrical principal elevation, which has a projecting gabled bay, a steep-pitched roof with tall chimneys and a square turret with a flat-top pyramidal-roof set back in the return elevation. There are also good points of detail: the two most prominent gables, to the south and the east, have scalloped barge boards with quatrefoil perforations; the overhanging eaves are emphasised by large ornate modillions. The two ground floor bay windows have crenellated parapets and other windows have hood moulding, gauged brick pointed arches or stone lintels; all the windows have their original timber frames. The hood-moulded doorway with stiff-leaf foliage stops is set in the return elevation to the east and retains its original timber door. The western and rear elevations are much plainer, the flint is not galletted here and the composition and fenestration are largely functional; some windows and doors have been filled in, others replaced in plastic and there is a late C20 conservatory. The plastic windows, late C20 conservatory and the late C20 garage in the grounds is not of special interest.

INTERIOR: not inspected but known to contain a good degree of survival of mid-C19 fabric and features. These include: a principal stairway with carved square newel posts and barley-sugar balusters; at least three fireplaces, with large marble or stone surrounds and console brackets supporting the mantelshelves; a number of original doors and architraves; ceiling roses; and ornate plaster cornices in the principal rooms. The original plan, which is illustrated in the 1860s designs created by George Rake, also appears largely unchanged.

HISTORY: The Grange dates from the late 1860s and was built for Charles Osborn, the developer of Osborn Road, who may have inhabited the house himself. Although the site was undeveloped in 1868 (the date for the first OS map for the area) plans of The Grange survive which are dated 1860 which suggests that the date of construction of the house was in the years just after the OS map survey; The Grange appears on the second Ordnance Survey map of 1898.

Osborn Road was laid out from the mid-C19 by Charles Osborn (1794-1859), a Fareham resident. Each building plot was bounded by handsome flint boundary walls which lend the street consistency, despite the varying styles and materials used in the villas; the walls are all listed Grade II. All the villas are set back from the street and have generous garden space to their forecourts and rears. Taken as a whole, the street is an eloquent testimony to the mid-late C19 approach to architectural style, which saw no inconsistency in placing an Italianate villa next to a Gothic house, and combining the proportions of a late-Georgian building with decorative elements more to mid-C19 taste in a single composition. The house has experienced some later alterations as well as the addition of a late C20 conservatory and a garage within the grounds.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The Grange should be added to the list at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* the house is the work of an architect of regional significance, George Rake, who has several listed buildings in the Portsmouth area to his name;
* Rake's use of local materials, in particular galletted flint, and the high quality of the craftsmanship identifies The Grange as a house which differs from the many standardised buildings of the mid C19;
* the composition, original plans for which survive, is successful and again points to a more bespoke commission;
* there is good survival of original features inside including fireplaces, cornices, ceiling roses, doors and a staircases;
* The Grange also has group value with the flint boundary wall which runs along the roadside of the grounds, the nearby church and a number of houses of the mid-late C19 on the road.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671635

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.

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