Hillcrest

Hillcrest is a house built in 1877 and converted into five flats in 1965. It is constructed of white brick with a slate roof. The front facade has four windows and is arranged over two storeys and a dormer attic. The central bay features a four-panelled door set within a stuccoed surround of fluted pilasters rising to foliated consoles, topped by a curvilinear fanlight with foliated spandrels. There are two six/six horned sash windows on the ground floor, with external shutters to the left-hand window. To the left of the doorway is a tripartite sash window, all under gauged skewback arches. The first floor has four six/six horned sash windows with gauged skewback arches and external shutters. A string course runs between the floors. The hipped roof has three decorative stacks. There are three pedimented dormers to the front, each with glazed cheeks and casements. The rear elevation is three storeys high with a dormer attic and is dominated by two large canted bays with 1/1 horned sashes on the ground floor and six/six horned sashes above. One pedimented dormer with casements and glazed cheeks is also present. The interior staircase has been blocked, access now being gained via a door in the north return. The staircase features cast-iron balusters with bifurcating scrolls and waterleaf nibs, a ramped and wreathed handrail, and heavy newel posts. A rear north room on the ground floor has large-framed panelling and a Corinthian modillion cornice. A rear south room incorporates reused materials from the original construction, including two early 16th-century bridging beams with ribbon and vine-trail carving and double ogee stops, early 17th-century panelling on all walls, and a mid 17th-century stone fireplace with decorated jambs and a mantel carved with Mannerist figures, lions' heads, and foliage trails in low relief. There is also a mid 17th-century timber chimneypiece consisting of reeded and fluted pilasters rising to an overmantel with five panels – the central panel arched – and featuring two nude female half-figures carved in high relief, one on either side. Continuous arcading is present on the top rail and cornice.