Western House is a Grade II listed building in the East Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 March 1974. Workhouse. 2 related planning applications.
Western House
- WRENN ID
- endless-facade-autumn
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- East Hertfordshire
- Constituency
- Hertford and Stortford MP: Josh Dean (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 March 1974
- Type
- Workhouse
- Address
- Western House, Collett Road, Ware
- OS grid reference
- TL 359 147
- Coordinates
- 51.8151, -0.02904
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Western House is a former workhouse of the Ware Poor Law Institution, built between 1839 and 1840 and converted into flats in 1993-1994. It was designed by Brown & Herman from London. The building features a stucco front block topped with a Welsh slated roof behind a parapet. It is a single-storey structure with a plinth, frieze, and cornice.
At the center, there is a pedimented portico with outer Doric pillars flanking Greek Ionic columns, all set on a plinth that is interrupted by a central flight of steps leading up to a glazed double door and a rectangular fanlight, which is surrounded by an eared architrave. Between the Doric pilasters, there are two tall three-light sash windows with glazing bars.
The layout follows the panopticon plan designed by Jeremy Bentham, featuring four back wings that radiate diagonally from a tall central octagon. The windows in these wings have hinged lights, glazing bars, reveals, and flat arches, with single-storey end wings.
Local climate
Western House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 88% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 11 transactions since 1996
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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