Summary
Three houses, built in the 1850s or 1860s, converted to a school and now flats.
Reasons for Designation
Clevedon House at 125-127 Castle Hill and 1 Coley Hill, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a mid-C19 terrace 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
Until the C19, most of the land west of Reading town centre was open farmland crossed by two ancient routes passing through the town from London to the West Country. Today, the northern of these two roads is named Oxford Road, while the southern is named Castle Street/Castle Hill/Bath Road. Fortifications were built throughout the area by Royalist forces garrisoned in the town during the Civil War with some of the earthworks surviving into the early C19. From the early C18, development slowly began to spread westward along Castle Hill/Bath Road and Oxford Road. More comprehensive development of the area began in the early C19 and progressed gradually over the 100 years. Terraced housing was erected in considerable quantities during the first half of the C19 to cater for a variety of social groups.
The single building of 125 and 127 Castle Hill and 1 Coley Hill (Clevedon House) was constructed during the mid-C19, during the westward expansion of Reading’s suburbs along Castle Hill/Bath Road. It appears to have been originally built as a terrace of three dwellings and is shown as being divided into three properties in mapping of 1875. The nature of this tripartite division is unclear as there is no fabric evidence of how the westernmost property, adjacent to Coley Hill (and possibly known as Clevedon Lodge to differentiate it from Clevedon House facing Castle Hill), was separately accessed. Soon after construction, it appears to have been converted to use, at least partially, as a preparatory school – the first known reference to the building appears in 1861, in local press advertisements for a ‘Preparatory School for Young Gentlemen’. At some time in the early C20, possibly before 1910 and certainly by 1924, the building was converted to use as flats, some of which were used as lodging houses with several occupants.
The building has been altered externally since first built. Three chimney stacks have been removed. The mullion windows across the north and west elevations are stylistically unusual for a building of this date and may be later replacements of the original windows. The central bay of the western elevation historically had small round-arched windows probably matching those above the front doors on the northern elevation, but these have been replaced with larger mullion windows to match those to either side. There may have originally been separate access to the westernmost bay of the building, which appears to have originally been a separate property. The building has lost its original boundary treatment, which has been replaced with a hardstanding driveway and a low, crenelated brick boundary wall.
Details
A terrace of three houses, built in the 1850s or 1860s, converted to a school and now flats.
MATERIALS AND PLAN: the terrace is of red brick laid in Flemish bond, rendered at basement level, with two-toned brick detailing of lighter and darker bricks, stone (possibly with some reconstituted stone) window surrounds, timber eaves cornice and a hipped slate roof covering. The building is of four storeys plus basement and has an L-shaped plan.
EXTERIOR: the principal four-bay elevation faces Castle Hill and a secondary three-bay elevation faces Coley Hill to the west. The three street-facing corners of the building are accented with ‘quoins’ of buff and blue bricks. There is a matching column of two-toned brickwork rising up between the two westernmost bays of the Castle Hill elevation, likely denoting the original party wall between the westernmost houses. Two flights of steps, separated by a boundary wall and railings, provide access to two front doors: the eastern door provides access to 125 Castle Hill and is four-panelled; the western door is for 127 Castle Hill and appears to be modern. A porch projects over both entrances, composed of a simple entablature supported on three Doric columns and three pilasters. There are three windows at the ground-floor level and four windows on the first, second and third floors. The window frames are of matching designs across both street-facing elevations and comprise a pair divided by a single moulded mullion. A bracketed timber eaves cornice sits at the junction of the elevations and roof just above the heads of the third-floor windows. The west elevation adjacent to Coley Hill contains three, mullion windows on the ground, first, second and third floors. The windows reduce in height moving up the elevation, with those on the ground floor being the largest. The southern elevation of this part of the building is blank aside from the two-tone, brick quoins up the western side of the elevation and a modern door on the ground floor. The rear, southern elevation of that part of the building facing onto Castle Hill contains a variety of sash and mullion windows at all floor levels, including a column of three, six-over-six sash windows in the centre of the elevation lighting a staircase, immediately to the east of which are three, two-over-two sash windows, and two additional six-over-six sash windows on the eastern side of the elevation.
