The Gables

The Gables is an institute that has been converted into four dwellings. It was built around 1850 and has undergone some alterations in the late 20th century. The building was commissioned by Robert Needham Philips and is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings. It features a fishscale tile roof and brick cross-axial stacks with diagonal shafts, and has an irregular plan.

The exterior is two stories high and has a four-window range. A gabled wing projects to the left of the center, with the left end breaking back from it. The roof has wide eaves and gables adorned with enriched bargeboards and finials, along with terracotta cresting. To the right of the gable, there is a porch with a coped parapet that features an entrance with a four-centred head and a plank door fitted with strap hinges.

The windows are segmental-headed with chamfered openings and labelmoulds. On the ground floor, there are two windows with three-light transomed casements and one window with a cross-casement at the left end. The first floor has a cross-casement window in the gable, a small light above the entrance, and a single light in a gabled half-dormer to the right. Some of the casements have been renewed. The building has gabled roofs, a truncated cross-axial stack, and a cross-axial stack on the rear wing that retains its caps.

The left return features a gable at the right end with a canted bay window topped with a hipped roof, containing 1:2:1-light transomed casements. The cross-casement on the first floor has a small inserted window to the right. There is a recessed gabled bay to the left with an altered window and an entrance featuring a panelled door, with a single light above. A single-storey wing projects to the left, showcasing ashlar 1:3:1-light hollow-chamfered mullioned casements in the canted bay at the end, which has a hipped roof and a 20th-century casement above. The inner return has a large porch with a Tudor-arched former entrance, now a window, and a 20th-century entrance to the left.

The interior was not inspected, but originally, the institute included a reading room, refreshment bar, billiard room, and living accommodation.