No 5 And Attached Gazebo

No. 5 and Attached Gazebo, Lansdowne Crescent, Worcester

A house dating from circa 1835-40 with later additions and alterations. The building is constructed of brick with painted stucco finish, and is roofed in hipped slate with wide eaves. The left end-stack is in painted brick and features an oversailing detail with chimney pots. The house comprises three storeys with a cellar and is built to a double-depth plan with an entrance hall and centrally positioned rear staircase.

The street elevation is articulated with stucco detailing including fluted pilasters that rise from a first-floor sill band. The outer pair of pilasters are topped with corbel brackets, and the pilaster capitals carry a decorated frieze with foliated scrolled-shell motifs. The stucco is lined to represent ashlar.

The second-floor windows are 4-over-4 sashes in plain reveals with sills. The first-floor right is an 8-over-8 sash similarly detailed. The first-floor left features a later canted oriel window with 4-pane transom lights over a pair of 6-pane side-hung casements, with similar single casements to the returns. This oriel is topped with a carved quatrefoil frieze and crude scrolled parapet, and is furnished with an ornamental balcony in scrolled heart and anthemion design.

The ground floor features a central 2-over-2 margin-glazed sash extending to ground level, flanked on either side by a 2-pane French window with overlight, all in plain reveals. The entire ground floor is sheltered by a full-width tented verandah supported by slender wrought and cast iron frames stiffened by scrolls and anthemion motifs.

The returns are finished in painted stucco with a band at first-floor sill level to the rear half. The left-return has an external stack terminating at eaves level. Set back on the left-return is a later single-storey range in painted brick beneath a hipped slate roof, fenestrated with side-hung casements under segmental arches and twentieth-century patio doors.

The rear elevation is in painted brick with a narrow projecting central section. This section contains a replacement fully-glazed door with a 4-centred arch head. Above are 6-over-6 windows to the first and second floors, similarly detailed with arched heads and traceried glazing bars. The remainder of the rear elevation comprises conventional 6-over-6 and 8-over-8 windows.

The interior retains original features including panelled doors, architraves, skirtings and cornices. The staircase has stick balusters and a wreathed handrail.

At the left end of the facade is an irregular six-sided single-storey grotto with a pitched lead roof surmounted by a finial. Three of the faces incorporate a 2-light window beneath a 4-centred arch head, with lights of either 4-pane or lattice-leaded design; the lattice-leaded lights include some coloured glass. Paired entrance doors to the right have margin glazing with flush-beaded panels below, and are topped by a fanlight with 4-centred arch head and similar arch tracery glazing bars. The interior is fitted with boarded seating and decorated with sea-shells arranged in a variety of patterns, predominantly floral.

The house is of similar design to No. 6 Lansdowne Crescent. Its elevated position meant that vehicular access could only be obtained from the east via Lansdowne Crescent Lane, introducing formality to what would normally be the rear elevation. According to the 1886 Ordnance Survey map, Nos. 10 and 14 were exceptions, with carriage drives from the west off Lansdowne Crescent. Nos. 1-15 (consecutive) and 17 and 18 Lansdowne Crescent form a substantial group of listed buildings that compare well with other developments of the period in Worcester, including Britannia Square, Lark Hill, and Rainbow Hill Terrace.