127 High Street, Berkhamsted

127 High Street, Berkhamsted

This is a two-storey brick house with a slate roof and red brick chimney stacks, painted overall. It occupies a double-pile plan with a passageway on the east side over which the first floor extends. A late twentieth-century L-shaped glazed structure containing an indoor swimming pool has been added to the rear but is not included in the listing due to lack of special interest.

The north-facing façade is irregular beneath a pitched roof, the front pitch being steeper than the rear. A wide chimney stack rises through the front pitch on the east side, probably from an earlier phase of the house, with narrower stacks on the west side of the front pitch and east side of the rear pitch. The front elevation comprises, from left to right, a four-panelled nineteenth-century door accessing the passageway to the garden; a large late nineteenth-century canted bay window with one-over-one pane horned sashes and a moulded cornice with modillions; three stone steps; a three-panelled front door with the upper panel now glazed, set in a classical doorcase with moulded cornice and panelled soffit and jambs; and a recessed eight-over-eight pane sash window with a gauged brick head. The first floor has four similar windows irregularly spaced, the first with a plain lintel rather than a gauged brick head.

The rear elevation has, from left to right, a wide twentieth-century casement window; a six-panelled door with upper panels now glazed, under a segmental brick arch; and a pair of French windows with margin lights. The first floor is lit by three six-over-six pane sash windows irregularly spaced under segmental brick arches. The right-hand side is deeply recessed and has one twentieth-century window above the passageway. A brick chimney breast in the side passage rises through from the east wall to the first floor.

Internally, the front door opens into a narrow hall leading to reception rooms on either side and through to two rear rooms. The dog-leg staircase is positioned behind the west reception room and leads to the first floor containing four corner bedrooms with a bathroom between the two east rooms. A brick cellar, thought to date to the seventeenth century, is accessed between the staircase and the rear west room.

The house retains its staircase and a high proportion of nineteenth-century joinery, including four-panelled doors in moulded architraves, moulded cornices, skirting boards, picture rails and some window shutters. The door from the hall to the rear rooms has a glazed upper section with a border of red stained glass and blue glass corners containing an etched sunburst-type motif. The rear west room contains modern kitchen fittings and the back door has eighteenth-century HL hinges. The dog-leg staircase features a closed string, stick balusters, a ramped handrail, and slender newel posts, including a pair on the half-pace landing.

The fireplace in the front east room has a moulded timber surround painted white with a cast-iron grate, tiled hearth and sides. The Delft-style hearth tiles are white with blue patterns whilst those on the sides depict children playing games and pastoral scenes. The only other fireplace remaining is in the first-floor room directly above, with a plain timber surround painted white and cast-iron grate. A small cast-iron radiator stands on the landing. The king-post roof has been considerably altered.