The Royal Meteorological Society, 104 Oxford Road

Summary

Detached house, built in the late C18 or early C19, converted to offices in the C20.

Reasons for Designation

The Royal Meteorological Society, 104 Oxford Road, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a late-C18 or early-C19 building which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Historic interest:

* as part of the urban development of Reading’s ancient core.

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. Inns and some isolated dwellings probably existed on these roads before the C18. 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. John Rocque’s Map of Berkshire (1761) depicts ribbon development along Castle Hill/Bath Road extending as far as the junction with Tilehurst Road, and individual houses within grounds along Oxford Road about as far as the present-day location of Russell Street. More comprehensive development of the area began in the early C19 and progressed gradually over the 100 years. Development spread further along Castle Street/Castle Hill, with some of the earlier buildings depicted on Rocque’s map seemingly replaced. North-south link roads also were laid out across the market gardens that previously existed between Oxford Road and Bath Road. Terraced housing was erected in considerable quantities during the first half of the century to cater for a variety of social groups.

104 Oxford Road is a substantial detached house built during the late C18 or early C19 as Reading’s inner suburbs began to expand westward along Oxford Road. In 1897, it was known as Bath Lodge and by the late C19, served as the office of the dressmakers, Barrett & Knight. The single-storey extension to the north-east corner of the building was constructed before 1875. In the late 1940s or 1950s, the house became part of a large tobacco and confectionery distribution warehouse, with the north (rear) and west (flank) elevations apparently incorporated into the warehouse building itself. This warehouse was demolished in the late C20 and replaced with the existing office block to the north and west of 104 Oxford Road, known as Eaton Court. It appears that the north and west elevations of the main house and north-eastern extension were at least partially rebuilt at this time, with the ground- and first-floor windows on the west elevation having lost their gauged brickwork heads. By the late C20, the building was known as Mannson House, although the origins of this name are unknown. The building was taken over by the Royal Meteorological Society in 1990. Since 2010, the principal southern elevation has been restored and the roof renewed.

Details

Detached house, built in the late C18 or early C19, converted to offices in the C20.

MATERIALS AND PLAN: red brick in Flemish bond with a stone or painted stone portico and cornice and slate tile roof. The main rear elevation is smooth rendered. Two storeys, possibly with basement.

EXTERIOR: the principal southern elevation, facing Oxford Road is a symmetrical composition of five bays with classical proportions. The main entrance comprises a six-panelled door under a sunburst fanlight, beneath a stone or painted stone Doric portico. The portico is flanked by two pairs of six-over-six sash windows with gauged brickwork heads and stone cills, and there are five matching sash windows on the first floor. There is a cornice parapet concealing the lower section of the double-pitched roof. The east elevation on to Eaton Place has a number of scars from brickwork repairs. There is a single six-over-six sash window with stone cill and gauged brickwork jack arch head on the ground floor and a similar three-over-six sash window to the attic. The west elevation contains two modern six-over-six sash windows on the ground floor and one on the first floor. There is a six-over-six sash window under a gauged brick jack arch to the attic. The brickwork of the east and west elevations has been built up between the pairs of ridge chimney stacks. The rear elevation of the building is smooth rendered and contains modern sash windows.

A single-storey extension adjoins the north and east elevations of the building. It has a hipped slate roof with brick dentils, and a modern casement window and door on its south elevation under gauged brickwork jack arches. Its north elevation has been rebuilt and contains two modern casement windows.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the front garden is paved and bounded by a brick wall with sections of metal railings.

104 Oxford Road was previously listed as Mannson House.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39104

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, Tyack, G, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (2010), pp438-440

Websites
Reading Borough Council, History of Reading (2012), accessed 31 July 2023 from https://web.archive.org/web/20120425235452/http:/www.reading.gov.uk/residents/history-of-reading/
Ditchfield, PH, Page, W, A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp336-342, accessed 31 July 2023 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3/pp336-342

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