Avenue House

Avenue House is an 18th-century residence located at 20 Church Street, originally built for the local brewer John Morris. The house consists of two distinct sections that are joined together: the western part was constructed in 1775 and later remodeled by architect Holland, who added the eastern section in 1794.

The western section features two storeys made of brick, topped with a shallow stone cornice that is decorated with triglyphs beneath a plain reveal. The stone cills are prominent, and a set of four steps leads up to a central doorway framed by a massive stone porch built in 1794. This porch is supported by Tuscan columns and features an architrave adorned with carvings by George Garrard, depicting foliage looped swags across rosettes and hanging from ribboned bows, all beneath a moulded classical cornice. The door itself has six panels (eleven fielded) and is topped by a delicate fanlight, set between plain reveals of a round-headed alcove, with the spandrels filled with a fluted fan motif.

The eastern section is slightly elevated and taller, resulting in windows that do not align with those of the western section. This part is also made of brick and has two storeys, featuring a deeply projecting stone cornice with groups of massed guttae on the soffit, and a similar parapet and coping above. There is a broad stone band above the ground floor windows, aligning with the top member of the stone porch in the western section. The house has four windows in total. Notably, Sir Albert Richardson, a prominent architect, lived here from 1919 to 1964.

Avenue House is part of a group with Nos 12 to 32 (even).