Number 24 And Attached Wall And Gate Pier

LICHFIELD

SK1109NW THE CLOSE 1094-1/4/210 (South side) 05/02/52 No.24 and attached wall and gate pier

GV II*

House, part now flat. c1461, extensively remodelled in late C17, C18 and c1814. Brick with some dressed stone to basement and front left angle; tile roof of complex form with brick stacks. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with basement and attic; 3-window range; gabled left end and recessed gabled right end. Enriched bargeboards and similar fascia. Central entrance has porch with cornice and parapet, and elliptical arch-within-arch, half-glazed door. Ground-floor left window has stucco surround and label mould to 3 ogee-headed lights with 12-pane sashes; other windows have plain surrounds to 12-pane sashes; gable to left has blocked window with 4-centred head. Left return has masonry ground floor with stone lintel and brick flat arch to blocked fireplace, probably to missing kitchen section; cogged cornice to projecting gabled 1st-floor section with end stack. Right return has basement windows with cross-casement and 4-light transomed casement; ground floor has entrance and window with rubbed brick flat arch and 2 segmental-headed windows, one in blocked larger opening, with 12-pane sashes; 1st floor has segmental-headed windows, 2 with 12-pane sashes and 2 with paired sashes, and one cross-casement; gabled dormer. Rear has gable with large stack to left of rebuilt section; left end has summerhouse with loggia above; 2 basement windows with 3-light pegged casements; upper windows have rubbed brick flat arches and 12-pane sashes; gabled dormers. INTERIOR: winding stick-baluster staircase; basement has much early structure, brick and some stone; brick vaulting, some cellars with chamfered beams; front right cellar has blocked brick stair on half arch; rear cellar with C19 range and bread oven. Flat has ashlar fireplace with Tudor arch in architrave; early C18 six-fielded-panel door; limited access to roof space, which is recorded as having 2 original roofs and blocked 2-light window; small light to valley has casement with fleur-de-lis catch. Attached short wall to front right has garden gate and pier to rear entrance to Newton's College (qv). Wall attached to rear right extends to rear wall of Garden of Remembrance (qv), C18 brick on stone base. Although much altered, this is one of the original houses of The Close. (Victoria History of the County of Stafford: Greenslade M W: Lichfield: Oxford: 1990-: P.66-7; Drury P: The Capitular Estate of Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral: 1987-).

Listing NGR: SK1148709689