History

End house of an unusual stepped castellated stuccoed terrace of 1839, known as Spring Gardens Terrace. Built for William Rees solicitor, probably to designs by William Owen, the terrace now Nos 5-9 originally comprised six two-bay houses and one, No 9, of three bays. Nos 8 and 8a, two houses with a fine two-storey cast-iron veranda were owned by Rees. Each house has a mansard roofed attic behind battlements, and the windows in a sunk panel to right of the door bay (except for No 9 which has two sunk panels). They had full basements and the doors reached up steps over the basement areas. The heavy two-panel doors are similar to doors in Victoria Place. The interiors have early Victorian rather than late Georgian detail: 4-panel doors, thick moulded cornices.

Exterior

End-terrace house, unpainted stucco with slate mansard roof behind battlemented parapet and red brick end stacks. Two storeys, attic and basement, three bays. Outer bays are set in large square-headed recesses which extend upwards from ground floor sill level. Two attic dormer windows behind parapet. Windows are small-paned hornless sashes with margin lights and slate sills: narrow sash to first floor centre over arched doorway with original door of two heavy panels under radiating-bar fanlight. Side bays are not precisely equal, the sunk panel to the left is narrower. Both sides have broad sash to the first floor, over a similar sash to left but a wide tripartite sash to the right. Cambered-headed basement windows below, 4-pane horned sash to left, window to right altered to door. Door under main house steps. Rear left has hipped full height projection.
Fine flight of eight broad stone steps up to platform in front of door, with plain iron railings to steps and iron scrolls to top platform. One step to doorway. Two painted grey limestone gatepiers with pyramid caps, and spear-head area railings on low stone copings. Gate in right hand railings in front of basement door.

Interior

Asymmetrical interior, with very small room, said to have been doctor's surgery, to left of entry, larger room to right, and larger room again to rear right. Staircase at end of entrance hall, with thin curving rail on stick balusters, with cast-iron thin post at foot. Room to right of entry has moulded cornice and marble fireplace with roundels over moulded piers. Large rear room has tripartite sash to the garden, moulded cornice and Victorian marbled slate fireplace. Four-panel doors. Panelled shutters.

Reasons for Listing

Included for special architectural interest as part of Spring Gardens Terrace, one of the best terraced rows in the town.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29507564

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)