26, Tredegar Square

The following entry shall be added:

TQ 3682 788-/11/261 29/12/50

TREDEGAR SQUARE (north side) No. 26

GV II*

Terraced house. Completed in carcass 1827, interior fitted out in 1836-7. Forms part of an important terrace with classical stucco treatment, arranged as three linked 3-storey ranges. No. 26 comprises one decorated end of the centrepiece, with Ionic columns in antis under deep cornice, over rusticated ground floor; a two-storey link building with a round-headed window between pilasters under a pediment; and the former no. 25 of two bays, that to the right slightly projecting, and both with round-headed ground-floor windows and first floor architrave surrounds. This has always been the largest and grandest house in the terrace, but is remarkable for the painted decoration in its first floor front room, which consists of a series of painted papers and panels in the style made popular by J G Crace in the late 1830s but which are now exceptionally rare, especially in so relatively ordinary a house. Ceiling with stencilled decoration. Four wall panels flank the entrance and chimney breast opposite, and four the front and rear windows; the panel above the chimney breast is painted in the same style. They are executed in a variety of media on paper and board glued to the walls. The four larger panels have a green border drawn into a shallow arch at the top. By this simple device the panels are given scale and an almost architectonic quality. Inside this border there is a 'frame' picked out in gold stencil. At the centre of each arched panel is a roundel depicting putti with various attributes. These are executed in oil on paper which has been pasted down on top of the painted wall paper. The roundels are set off by a pair of birds resting on delicate bars of ornament. Floral swags and naturalistic foliage sit inside this frame. The motifs are various and include ivy branches, bamboo leaves, acanthus leaves, ribbons, a goldfish bowl, a vase and a pair of birds. The roundels represent the arts and sciences. The quality of execution is high throughout and in places brilliant.

Listing NGR: TQ3659582806