Summary
A terrace of houses, built in the early C19, subdivided into flats and houses.
Reasons for Designation
128-132 Castle Street, 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.
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
Until the C19, most of the land west of Reading town centre was open farmland crossed by two ancient routes passing from London to the West Country. Today, the northern of these is named Oxford Road, while the southern is Castle Street, Castle Hill and Bath Road. Inns and isolated dwellings likely 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 along Oxford Road roughly as far as the present-day 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 were also 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.
The terrace of 128-132 Castle Hill was built in around 1800 during the western growth of Reading’s inner suburbs along Castle Street and Bath Road. It is a loosely symmetrical terrace of three houses in a simple neoclassical style. There is some evidence to suggest that it was originally two houses, such as the divide in the hipped roof half-way along the rear elevation, the fenestration pattern of the rear elevation and the presence of only two matching historic doors onto Castle Hill (although it is possible that the entrance to number 132 was on the west elevation). The building was three separate properties by 1879, by which time number 132 (the westernmost property) had been greatly enlarged with a rear and side extension which almost doubled its floor space. The chimney stacks on the party wall between numbers 128 and 130 are very tall and were built, or possibly rebuilt, to allow the smoke to clear the neighbouring property at number 126.
Details
Terrace of houses, built in the early C19, subdivided into flats and houses.
MATERIALS: stucco with a slate roof covering and wrought iron railings to the first-floor windows of number 130 and a timber colonnade and balcony at number 132.
PLAN AND EXTERIOR: three storeys with a basement under a hipped roof. There is a two-storey side and rear extension with a pitched roof at number 132. The principal Castle Hill elevation is a loosely symmetrical composition, with the wider central property, number 130, projecting forward slightly and carrying a pediment, flanked by the narrower frontages of numbers 128 and 132. A plat band at the first-floor sill level runs across the Castle Hill frontage of all three properties.
The frontage of number 128 contains a two-pane sash window on each floor and a recessed, round-arched doorway containing a six-panelled door under a bats-wing fanlight. At number 130, there are two modern sash windows on each floor, with those on the first floor being full-height, breaking through the plat band, and carrying decorative iron balconies. The doorway, set on the left (western) side of the elevation, matches that at number 128. Number 132 has the narrowest Castle Hill frontage, carrying a single two-pane sash window on each floor. The west elevation steps out in three stages. There is a two-storey bay window adjacent to Castle Hill, with three two-pane sash windows on each floor. To the north (rear) of this is a three-storey square projection containing the main entrance to number 132 under a timber porch and a tall sash window lighting a staircase. Adjoining to the north is a two-storey extension stepping out further to the west, with a full-height bay window placed centrally, flanked by ground-floor timber colonnades with decorative balconies above.
The rear elevation is exposed red brick with some rendered sections on the ground floor of numbers 130 and 132 and contains a variety of sash windows under brick flat arches, including two large ten-over-ten sash windows at numbers 128 and 130.
