Bleak House

Bleak House is an early 18th-century central block with later additions, situated on Catherine Street. The original central part of the house is two storeys plus an attic and basement, featuring five windows and a high-pitched, hipped tiled roof with two square dormers. A brick parapet sits above a modillioned wooden cornice. The right-hand section, dating to the late 18th century, is two storeys with three windows and a hipped, tiled roof of a slightly lower pitch, finished with an eaves cornice. A later left wing, single-storey and with three windows, has a hipped, tiled roof hidden behind a parapet and cornice band. The house is constructed of dark red brick with blue brick headers, and brighter red brick dressings. A stone plinth runs along the base. Windows are sash windows with glazing bars (replaced on the first floor) set in plain reveals, beneath gauged brick arches with curved, cut decoration. The first-floor centre window has a shouldered, moulded brick architrave. Three stone steps lead to the front door, which consists of four fielded panels, two flat panels, and sits within a panelled reveal with a dentil cornice head and a decorative fanlight. A prostyle Tuscan porch features a triglyph frieze, a mutule cornice, and an open pediment broken back in the centre.