40, COLLEGE CRESCENT

Details

TQ2584NE CAMDEN COLLEGE CRESCENT
798-1/50/266 (West side)

11.1.99 No.40

GV II

Detached house. c1880-1. By Morris and Stallwood of Reading.
For Samuel Palmer. Grey and red Reading bricks with terracotta
enrichment and continuous dentil cornices at floor level.
Tiled hipped roofs with tall brick slab chimney-stacks.
EXTERIOR: 3 and 2 storeys and basement. 5 bays; irregular
windows. Asymmetrical design in Queen Anne style. Central
projecting porch of pilasters flanking a round-arched entrance
with keystone and supporting an enriched parapet with ball
finials; panelled part-glazed double doors with patterned
fanlight. To left a window with radial patterned head; 1st and
2nd floor sashes have keystones and shaped aprons. To left, a
Flemish gabled bay of grey bricks with red brick pilaster
strips rising through the floors to form round-arched blind
arcading with keystones on the 2nd floor; single central
sashes with shaped and enriched aprons; enriched plaque in
pediment. Ground floor window flanked by cartouches. Left hand
outer bay of 2 storeys forming a canted bay on the return. To
right of entrance a pedimented oriel window with large
round-arched window having patterned glazing above. Right hand
outer bay of 2 sashes to each floor flanked by red brick
pilasters; central enriched plaques. The rear elevation is less significant and the main architectural interest of the exterior resides in the front elevation.
INTERIOR: Front portion of house, up to rear wall of axial corridor, has very fine original internal features. Central hall and staircase has dado panelling, moulded arches on turned columns, original doors and windows with stained glass.
Moulded ceiling, wooden fireplace and fine panelled doors in elaborate wooden surrounds. The main staircase rises through 3 storeys with all its decoration intact. The rooms to the rear of the axial corridor throughout the house are plainer and more altered than those at the front. The main rooms on the front ground floor retain very fine fireplaces and elaborate doors and door surrounds, they also have contemporary plaster ceilings and deep coving. On the upper floors many of the rooms have been sub-divided but those at the front in particular still retain most of their original late Victorian fittings including fireplaces, doors, door surrounds, coving, skirting boards, dado panelling and fitted cupboards.
This high quality late Victorian house survives very well with remarkably good quality contemporary internal features in the front rooms.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Samuel Palmer of Huntley and Palmer's biscuits, Reading, built his house in a style and materials popular in the Reading area. Originally called Northcourt the house then became a Children's Hospital. Palmer's family presented the drinking fountain, (qv), at the corner with Fitzjohn's Avenue, to his memory in 1904.


Listing NGR: TQ2656684516

Legacy

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Legacy System number:

474123

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LBS

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