Watford Museum is a Grade II listed building in the Watford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 26 August 1952. Mansion. 1 related planning application.
Watford Museum
- WRENN ID
- gilded-transept-torch
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Watford
- Constituency
- Watford MP: Matt Turmaine (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 26 August 1952
- Type
- Mansion
- Address
- Watford Museum, 196, High Street, WD17 2DT
- OS grid reference
- TQ 114 960
- Coordinates
- 51.6519, -0.39109
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Watford Museum is a large red brick mansion built in 1775, standing three storeys high with a parapet and a slate roof. Two-storey wings were added around 1807. The central section features a five-window range, with the middle five bays projecting forward and topped by a pediment that includes a bulls-eye window. The building has a wood dentil cornice, and the windows have gauged brick flat heads and glazing bar sashes. A 19th-century central doorcase is adorned with a hood supported by console brackets. At the rear, there are two full-height curved bays with triple windows, also added around 1807. The wings have a three-window range and parapets, which have been altered. A rainwater head on the north side is dated 1775 and bears the initials J A D, likely referring to Dyson, brewers who operated on the site. The building served as the head office of Benskin's Brewery from 1868. The interior has mostly been altered during the 19th century.
Local climate
Watford Museum sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 85% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 61% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 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.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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
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