15, Sandford Street

Two houses, built around 1780, with an extension added around 1908. They are now County Council offices. The construction is primarily brick with ashlar stone dressings, and they have tile roofs with brick stacks. The buildings are arranged with a double-depth plan and are in a Georgian style. They are three storeys high, with a three-window facade and a two-window range to the right. A brick plinth and top cornice are visible. The central entrance features a doorcase with an architrave, frieze, and bracketed pediment, above a six-fielded-panel door and overlight. A round-headed entrance with a fanlight is located at the left end, also leading to a six-panel door. The windows have sills, bracketed on the ground floor, and rubbed brick flat arches with horned sashes. Ground-floor windows have 16 panes, first-floor windows have a pattern of 4/8 panes flanking one of 3/6 panes, and second-floor windows have 8 panes flanking one of 6 panes. Brick stacks are positioned at the ends. The range to the right has two horizontal bands and a top cornice made of brick modillions. The windows on the ground and first floors have sills, bracketed on the ground floor, and segmental-headed tops. All windows in this range have top-hung casements; those on the ground and first floors have 4/8 panes, and the window at the left end (likely originally an entrance) has a 2/4 pane design. Second-floor windows have 8 panes. A rainwater head and later downspout are situated between the two ranges. The rear of the building has two gabled wings with parapet infill. The rear range to the right includes a wing with a coped gable and a large central stack featuring a cogged band. Inside, the hall has a stone-flagged floor and a round arch leading to the stair hall. The open-well staircase has a cut string, column-on-vase balusters, newels formed by clusters of four balusters, and a ramped handrail. A plaque in the hall records the building’s history as the Victoria Nursing Home. The house was occupied in 1899, with the right-hand range being added around 1908 as offices and a nurses’ home. From 1934 to 1985, it operated as a clinic.