201 Eastgate

201 Eastgate is a house built in 1849, constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond above a rusticated stone plinth, with slate roofs.

The building forms an L-shaped plan, with a pitched roof over the main south range extending over a short north wing at its east end. Both gables have chimney stacks.

The house has two storeys above a semi-basement. The south elevation is symmetrical, comprising three bays. The outer bays are slightly advanced and contain ground floor and semi-basement bay windows. A raised central front door is reached by steps and features three fielded panels with an overlight. The door sits beneath a classical portico with fluted columns and Doric capitals, the frieze decorated with triglyphs. On either side of the door are double height canted bays with flat roofs. These bays have ground floor windows with cambered arches and pilasters between them; the outer windows contain single paned horned sashes, while the central window has three over three horned sashes. The basement bays have a single small three over three sash window with a rusticated wedge lintel. The first floor has three windows: six over six unhorned sashes beneath rusticated wedge lintels with keystones.

The ground falls away slightly to the north, where the semi-basement opens directly onto the garden. The main north range has two bays, each containing six over six unhorned sashes under cambered brick arches at both ground and first floor levels; the ground floor west window is slightly larger. At basement level, the east bay has a door under a cambered brick arch, to the west of which is a twelve paned Yorkshire sash also with a cambered brick arch, and beyond that an arched opening to a passage leading to the front of the house. The short north wing to the east has modern windows, including French doors opening onto a timber balcony at ground floor level above the basement.

Inside, the front door opens onto an entrance lobby with a full height glazed partition with a panelled lower section, separating it from the entrance hall. An arch divides the entrance and stair halls, both featuring cornices and dado rails with panel decoration, deep moulded skirting boards, and wide floorboards that continue throughout the ground floor. The skirting boards are deeper in the front rooms. Doors either side of the entrance hall lead to front rooms: the south-west room has an Adam style fireplace, dado rail, and deep moulded cornice; the south-east room has a delicately decorative plaster cornice and a marble fireplace with a carved foliate architrave. Two main rooms lie north of the stair hall: the west room has shuttered windows and a plain marble fireplace with brackets supporting the mantelshelf; the east room is a modern kitchen. The stairs are positioned at the east end of the stair hall, where a short panelled passage also leads to basement stairs. The dogleg stairs to the first floor feature open treads, stick balusters, and a handrail with a volute end.

On the first floor, an arch to the west of the landing defines the entrance to a central west-east corridor with rooms on either side. Surviving detail includes six panelled doors, moulded cornices and other joinery. A fireplace in the north-west room contains a decorative cast iron basket grate and wood surround with fluted decoration. The south-west room has a fireplace with a reeded surround and tiled hearth. A small enclosed winder stair at the back of the house rises to a single attic room.

The semi-basement contains the main service rooms, with an external covered through passage providing direct access from front to back. The basement includes an arched cellar, a room with a small cast iron fireplace, and a room with a chimney breast with an opening wide enough to accommodate a kitchen range.