The Round House

The Round House is a stucco cottage ornée combining picturesque Italian rustic style with Gothic-Tudor details, dating back to circa 1810. Originally a freestanding folly in the grounds of what was then No 29 George Road, the central cornical rotunda was extended circa 1830 with wings added to the garden front and the roadside, converting it into a separate dwelling. A service wing was added on the west side between 1860 and 1870, and early 20th century alterations were also made. The two-storey rotunda rises above the single-story wings and has a conical graded slate roof, originally possibly thatched, with a significant overhang to the eaves. A stucco chimney with Victorian ornamental pots is surmounted by a dovecote gable. The wings have hipped slate roofs with flat eaves, and the roof sections linking them to the rotunda are gracefully swept. The road front features a lean-to forebuilding with an altered entrance, and the windows are arranged irregularly; the rotunda retains pointed arch casements, including a small window on the first floor, while the wings have drip moulds over their casements, and one wing contains an oval window. The garden front presents symmetrical wings flanking the rotunda, terminating in slightly advanced bays with late 19th-century French windows. The rotunda's garden-facing ground floor room retains a small mantlepiece with roundel corner blocks and a cornice shelf. Internal alterations were carried out in the early 20th century, affecting the door furniture and staircase. The west flank of the late 19th-century service wing is faced with exposed brickwork.