107 Castle Hill

Summary

A house, built in the early C19, now flats.

Reasons for Designation

107 Castle Hill, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an early-C19 building which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Group value:

* the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.

History

107 Castle Hill (formerly 107 Castle Street) was built in the early C19, sometime between 1802 and the 1830s (the house does not appear on Coates’ map of 1802). The domestic west wing and former stable wing to the east may be contemporary with the main house and were certainly completed by 1879 when the house was first accurately mapped. The house is marked as ‘Camden House’ on the OS map of 1879.

The house appears to have experienced fairly little alteration externally and is unusual in retaining its stable wing and coach house (to the rear). The front door and fanlight appear to be later editions, as do the large-paned sash windows on the ground floor of the main house and west wing. The house has also lost its historic boundary treatment and front garden landscaping, which has been replaced with a hardstanding driveway with no boundary to the pavement.

The house had been converted into flats by the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the former coach house and stables were refurbished and converted to studio and workshop use. In the early 2000s, the lateral buildings were converted to dwellings.

Details

A house, built in the early C19, now flats.

MATERIALS AND PLAN: the building is stuccoed with stone dressings, with a roof covering of slate. It has three storeys and a basement with a lower, slightly recessed, range to the west (adjoining 109 Castle Hill) of two storeys plus basement.

EXTERIOR: the building is a stuccoed villa of neoclassical design consisting of a main central element of three bays and three storeys plus basement, A two-storey stable wing which exists to the east (adjoining 105 Castle Hill), set back from the principal elevation. The roof of the main house is hipped while the two subsidiary elements have pitched roofs. The roofs of all three elements are recessed, behind parapets.

The main central element and shorter west wing are of similar design. The raised ground floors, which are embellished with channelled stucco, have round-arched sash windows with plate-glass panes (two on the central element and one on the west wing). A round-arched doorway exists off-centre within the primary element of the house in the westernmost bay, with a six-panelled, partly glazed door with a semi-circular fanlight above. This is accessed by a flight of painted stone stops with iron handrails. A plat band runs between the ground floor and basement at the height of the basement window heads. The area in front of the primary house’s basement serves two three-over-six sash windows and is bounded by a low, rendered wall of inverted arches between pillars.

A projecting plat band runs across the main house and west wing just below the sills of the first-floor windows. On the main central element, four Ionic pilasters rise through the upper two storeys and support an entablature with plain frieze and modillioned cornice, which forms part of a stone-coped parapet. The west wing has a simpler cornice below a short parapet with a raised central panel.

At first-floor level, the main building has three recessed six-over-six sash windows within architrave surrounds, while the west wing contains a single, recessed six-over-six sash with no surround. The second floor of the central element contains three, three-over-three sashes with no surrounds. The upper part of the east elevation of the main house is visible from the street and is smooth rendered and featureless.

To the east, the former coach house has a carriage entrance with timber double doors, above which is a single two-pane sash window with round-arched head, which breaks through a plat band. To either side of the window are circular bosses containing floral reliefs in plaster. The parapet carries a simple cornice matching that of the west wing.

The rear (south) elevation of the main building is rendered and has a regular fenestration pattern of three, flat-headed window openings each on ground, first and second floors, all containing sashes with the exception of the central, second-floor window which is blind. The rear elevation of the west wing is also rendered and contains a single, flat-headed sash window at first-floor level. The rear elevation of the coach house is of exposed reddish-brown brick and contains a coach entrance at ground floor and a single sash window at first-floor level. It is understood that there is a former coach house to the rear of the property.

INTERIOR: it is understood that there is a segmental arch with panelled soffit, and a tightly-turned stair with wreathed curtail rail to the ground-floor terminus. There are reeded surrounds to some of the doors.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

38809

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Tyack, Geoffrey, Bradley, Simon, Pevsner, Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (2010), 470

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