Summary
A townhouse, constructed during the mid-C18, converted to office use during the early C20.
Reasons for Designation
7 Castle Street, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a C18 building which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.
Historic interest:
* as part of the historic urban development of Reading.
Group value:
* the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.
History
7 Castle Street is a townhouse constructed during the mid-C18, probably on the site of an earlier building. The house remained in use as a private residence into the late C19, but by 1933 it had been converted to offices and has remained so since. In November 1933, a fire caused serious damage to the first and second floors of the building.
To the back of the principal north range fronting Castle Street is a rear range of roughly equal size, constructed of red brick, which may be a later addition but was extant by 1879. There is understood to be a single-storey extension on the west side of the south elevation which was also extant in 1879, although this is largely obscured from the street.
The building has changed little externally since construction.
Details
A townhouse, constructed during the mid-C18, converted to office use during the early C20.
MATERIALS: the building is constructed of silver grey brick laid in header bond with red brick dressings, with a timber doorcase, stone steps to the front door and a slate roof. The rear (south) elevation is constructed of red brick.
PLAN: irregular rectangular plan, with a principal, north range fronting Castle Street and a rear, south range which is slightly staggered to the west and extends to the south along the western plot boundary. Of three storeys with a basement.
EXTERIOR: the street front has four bays, with a pitched roof to the north range concealed behind a plain, stone-coped, brick parapet. The principal, north elevation is arranged in a regular grid, with openings arranged in four evenly-spaced bays with narrow strips of red brick rising from a silver-grey brick plinth to the parapet, defining each bay. On the ground floor, the main entrance is located to the right of the centre in the second bay from the west and comprises a six-panelled door with a rectangular fanlight over, containing intricate timber glazing bars, within a timber doorcase topped with a bracketed pediment. Three stone steps lead up to the door from the street. The three other ground-floor bays each contain a six-over-six timber sash window under a flat-arched window head in gauged brickwork. Beneath the westernmost ground-floor window is a basement light, now mostly bricked up, with a segmental-arched head. The first and second floors each contain four, six-over-six timber sash windows under gauged brickwork heads, matching those on the ground floor but slightly shorter in height.
The rear, south range is largely hidden from the street but appears to be of red brickwork, with ranges of timber sash windows on each floor of the south elevation.
