Blaydes House

Blaydes House is a house, now serving as architects’ offices, dating to approximately 1760, and possibly incorporating elements of an earlier structure. It was restored in 1982. The building is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings, some of which are painted, and has hipped and gabled pantile roofs. It features a single side wall, two rear wall stacks, and a single gable stack.

The building has a rendered plinth, ground floor and first-floor sill bands, quoins to the ground floor, a cornice, and a coped parapet. It is of three storeys and has a five-window range. The plan is double depth, with a rear wing. The first floor features five 12-pane sashes with keystone lintels, while the second floor has five 6-pane sashes with plain lintels. A central wooden portico with marble steps is supported by a pair of Doric columns carrying an entablature and dentillated pediment. Flanking the portico are paired Doric pilaster responds with an entablature. A moulded doorcase frames a double keystone and fielded 6-panel door. To the left is a slightly recessed bay with blank windows on the ground floor and a 9-pane window on the second floor. The left return has blank windows, while the right return, facing Blaydes Staith, features a variety of blank windows and sashes, also with keystone lintels. The rear wing, two storeys plus attics, has two 12-pane sashes on each floor, with keystone lintels; the attic has a gabled dormer with a 2-light casement. The rear elevation has a rendered gable with a 16-pane sash, a 20th-century door, and a 12-pane sash. A Venetian window with keystone is followed by two 12-pane sashes, with gabled dormers above.

The interior is notable for its outstanding winder stair with a panelled soffit, vase and baluster newels, and a ramped scrolled handrail. A Corinthian Venetian window and Rococo plaster ceiling adorn the stairwell. The central entrance hall boasts a fielded panelled dado, dentillated cornice, and a round arch leading to the stairwell. The dining room features an enriched dentillated cornice and an enriched moulded doorcase flanked by Corinthian quarter-pilasters, with a foliage trail frieze and enriched broken pediment. The Tabernacle Room features moulded wall panelling and a dentillated cornice. The fireplace has a panelled eared and shouldered architrave, cornice, and an overmantel panel in a similar style, with a recess framed by pilasters under a segmental pediment.

Blaydes House is an important example of a merchant’s house that combined domestic and commercial functions, situated on the quayside for this purpose.