Numbers 18, 19 And 20 And Attached Railings And Retaining Wall To Park Tunnel

Numbers 18, 19 and 20 Park Terrace, Nottingham, with attached railings and retaining wall to Park Tunnel

A house, now divided into three dwellings, with integrated retaining wall to Park Tunnel. The main house was designed by TC Hine of Nottingham and built in 1881, while the tunnel retaining wall dates to 1856, also by Hine. The building has been altered in the late 19th and late 20th centuries.

The structure is constructed in red brick with ashlar dressings and hipped slate roofs featuring a truncated central ridge stack. It is designed in the Renaissance Revival style. The building presents two storeys plus basement and attics, arranged in a four-window range, with a plinth, first-floor band, second-floor sill band, eaves cornice, and coped parapet. Windows are predominantly original plain sashes, with those on the Park front featuring round heads and moulded brick surrounds.

The house stands on the cliff above the tunnel entrance, with its lower storeys integral to the retaining wall. The main entrance is at ground-floor level on Park Terrace.

The south elevation facing the Park is architecturally complex. To the left is a projecting square bay, single storey plus basement, with an elliptical arched basement opening and a similar smaller opening above with a traceried balustrade. A balustraded balcony rises above. Further left stands a tall octagonal corner tower with a spire roof. To the right of the tower is a bay with single windows and a gabled dormer, followed by a bay with a wooden balcony in two bays and a hipped roof. The west end features a triangular bay window of two storeys with plain sashes beneath pediments, one altered to a door. Above this bay is a niche flanked by similar windows and pediments. A half-hipped roof with gabled dormer and single light crowns this section, flanked by roundels. A round window is positioned to the left, with an oriel window set across the corner above it.

The north elevation facing Park Terrace has a slightly projecting bay containing one window per floor and a shouldered dormer. To the left is a single window; to the right an inscribed datestone. Above are single windows on each side, all with pediments. To the left is a square projection of three storeys, each floor featuring a pedimented window and a roundel. The left return incorporates a pedimented brick porch with a round-arched doorway.

The boundary features include four restored square panelled gate piers with stone caps (restored 1981) flanking a central gateway, which is decorated with terracotta balustrades. To the left stands a late 20th-century gate pier in matching style with a gate. To the right runs a wrought-iron spearhead railing across the street front. Beyond this is a short railing with steps and a central gateway to the side entrance, followed by further plain railing and then the semicircular retaining wall to the tunnel, constructed in rock-faced stone with chamfered ashlar coping.

Historical Context

The Park Tunnel, begun in 1844 and completed by Hine in 1856, was conceived as a formal entrance to the Park. Both this house and the tunnel represent major contributions by TC Hine to the development of the Park, which was undertaken by the 4th and 5th Dukes of Newcastle.