73 and 75 London Street, and railings to the front

Summary

A pair of buildings of about 1748-1749, number 75 being built by 1754, of Palladian proportions for Dr Anthony Addington as a dwelling (number 73) and attached surgery (number 75).

Reasons for Designation

73 and 75 London Street, Reading, are listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as finely detailed mid-C18 buildings of Palladian proportions that survive well externally and are said to retain interior fixtures of note.

Historic interest:

* for their strong association with Dr Anthony Addington, an important C18 physician who specialised in the treatment of mental illness and built number 73 as a dwelling with number 75 serving as a surgery for his patients. Addington attended King George III during one of his episodic periods of ill mental health.

Group Value:

* with the many listed Georgian and Victorian listed buildings which characterise London Street, a significant thoroughfare with origins in the medieval period.

History

The first written record of Reading dates from the ninth century when the name seems to have referred to a tribe, called Reada’s people. It is possible that there was a river port here during the Roman occupation, and by 1086 there was a thriving urban community, recorded in the Domesday Book. The early Anglo-Saxon settlement is believed to have been located in the Castle Street and St Mary’s area, which has St Mary’s Minster at its heart.

Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 on a site to the north-east of the core of the Saxon town and this transformed Reading into a place of pilgrimage as well as an important trading and ecclesiastical centre with one of the biggest and richest monasteries in England.

A new bridge over the River Kennet had been built by 1186 and London Street was laid out with plots of land as part of the Abbot of Reading Abbey’s urban planning vision. The aim was to divert trade and traffic to the new marketplace at the gates of the Abbey. The transition from the old marketplace at St Mary’s Butts was at first resisted by the merchants of Reading but the move was complete by the C14. The dissolution of the Abbey led to the monastic complex becoming a royal palace and by 1611 the town’s population had grown to over 5,000 as a result of its cloth trade. John Speed’s map shows that by 1611 both sides of London Street had been developed with continuous frontages for a considerable distance southward, beyond the modern junction with Crown Street-London Road, with long gardens, outhouses and fields beyond. Several buildings which predate Speed’s map survive on London Street, some concealed behind later, brick façades. Following significant upheaval during the Civil War, the town flourished during the C18 and C19, and the survival of the many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings which characterise London Street testifies to the prosperity of the street during this period.

In 1788, High Bridge was built over the Kennet on the route to and from London Street; it is a scheduled monument and listed at Grade II. The architect was Robert Brettingham of Hanover Square in London.

Number 73 was built in 1748-1749 for Dr Anthony Addington (1713-1790) born in nearby Twyford, who settled in Reading in 1744 after graduating from Oxford and marrying Mary Hiley, the daughter of the headmaster of Reading Grammar School. He specialised in the treatment of mental illness and built number 73 as a dwelling with number 75 being added by 1754 to serve as a surgery for his patients. Addington left Reading for London in 1754, where he treated Lord Chatham and his son William Pitt the Younger. In 1788, he was called by the Prince of Wales to attend George III during one of his episodic periods of mental illness. The Addington's eldest son, Henry, 1st Viscount Sidmouth was Prime Minister from 1801-1804 and Home Secretary thereafter. A plaque commemorating Dr Addington is attached to the building’s front elevation. The rear elevation of number 73 has been extended in the C19 and later and its fenestration altered in the C20, attested by the use of concrete lintels to the openings and later brick infill. The rainwater goods dated 1748 with the initials AA, noted in the earliest List entry, were removed at an unknown date. Listed Building Consent has been granted for the conversion of number 73 to flats.

Number 75 is linked internally to the Grade II-listed number 77. An expansive, single-storey extension was constructed to the rear (east) of the building connecting it to a large hall, known as the Olympia Hall, first built between 1912 and 1931 when it was a dance hall. It appears to have been rebuilt or encased judging from the brickwork and extended to the rear. The Olympia Hall hosted music acts after the Second World War, including The Rolling Stones and The Who. The ground floor of the building is thought to have operated as a cinema or function space and continued as an events venue until 2022. In 2023 it appears to be vacant, with residential floors above.

Tyack, Bradley and Pevsner (p473) describe both buildings as having Palladian proportions and number 73 having superior interiors including a ‘pilastered archway to the column-balustered staircase, Venetian surround to the half-landing window, plaster panelling to the ground-floor rooms’.

Details

A pair of buildings, number 73 built in about 1748-1749, number 75 being built by 1754, of Palladian proportions for Dr Anthony Addington as a dwelling (73) and attached surgery (75). Number 73 was in use as offices in the C20, but is currently vacant (2023). Number 75 was altered to form an entertainment venue in the early C20, with hall to the rear (known as the Olympia Hall) remodelled and extended in the late C20, also apparently vacant in 2023, and residences on the first and second floors.

MATERIALS: brick with old tiled roofs.

EXTERIORS: an imposing pair of houses, each of five bays and three storeys, with a basement, stucco plinth and elevations of red brick laid in header bond. The principal front, facing London Street, has a painted stone string course at the first-floor level and painted stone cill band to the first- and second-floor windows. The moulded and painted stone cornice has a plain brick parapet with stone coping above. The roof has a taller hipped part to the left with a shaped chimney. There are glazing bar sash windows of six-over-six panes to the ground and first floors, beneath gauged brick heads. The second floor has similar fenestration but with three-over-three panes. Number 75 has scalloped blind boxes.

Both have central doors with stone steps with those at number 73 retaining moulded nosing. Number 73 has a six-panelled door with radiating fanlight over, and a deep, plain painted wood architrave with ovolo moulding, a moulded open pediment on half scroll fluted brackets with acanthus ornament, repeated at right angles on the wall face. There is a pair of sphinx foot scrapers.

Number 75 has a double, six-panelled door with a rectangular fanlight of oval and star glazing pattern, a wooden case with panelled reveals, architrave surround, plain frieze, moulded cornice and half scroll fluted brackets with acanthus ornament. A more recent door has been inserted at the north side of number 75, with a concrete lintel, presumably to access the residential first and second floors.

The rears of both buildings are altered. Number 73 has a two-storey brick extension, probably of C19 date, with a Venetian window; the rear of the C18 building has altered window openings with concrete lintels and C20 fenestration. Number 75 has a large hall extension, previously known as the Olympia Hall, also altered and extended.

INTERIORS: number 75 was altered to form a cinema and event space in the early C20. Number 73 has the original staircase with fluted balusters and plaster panelling in the principal rooms, hall and staircase. The hall is flagged with black diamond corners.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: C18 or early C19 ramped spearhead cast iron railings with panel standards topped with small urns and segmental bar and ball across front of both buildings.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39032

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, Tyack, G, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (2010), p473

Websites
Reading Museum Blog, accessed 16 August 2023 from https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/time-travel-on-london-street-part-one
Reading Museum Blog, accessed 16 August 2023 from https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/blog/time-travel-on-london-street-part-two
ODNB entry for Dr Anthony Addington, accessed 17 August 2023 from https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/149

End of official list entry

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