Kensal House

Kensal House

A former villa built around the mid-1830s in neoclassical style, later converted into a school in the early 20th century and then into offices in the mid-20th century. The building is now flanked by glazed links attached to 1980s apartment buildings (RB and Portobello Apartments) with further late 20th-century additions to the rear, which are not included in the listing.

The villa is constructed of brick with stucco render and topped by a Welsh slate hipped roof with stucco-rendered chimney stacks. It has a double-pile plan with three storeys above basement and attic levels.

The north elevation, which forms the principal front, is five windows wide with rusticated quoins. The central bay projects slightly and features a ground-floor flat-roof porch approached by steps flanked by a pair of stone lions supporting heraldic shields. The porch is fronted by paired Corinthian columns and backed by similar pilasters. Above the columns is a pulvinated frieze and a parapet roof with a modillioned cornice topped by a pair of plaster acorns. The windows are late 20th-century sash replacements: the ground-floor windows are margin glazed, the first-floor windows are two-over-two panes, and the second-floor windows are smaller two-over-two panes. The ground and first-floor windows sit within architraves topped by decorated pulvinated friezes and cornices with consoles at ground level, and plain pulvinated friezes with modillioned pediments and consoles at first-floor level. The second-floor windows are set within shouldered architraves. A plain platband runs above the ground floor and a guilloche band above the first floor. The building is crowned by a pulvinated frieze and cornice supported by console brackets.

The side elevations are now largely blind, with earlier window openings and a former west entrance having been blocked. They feature pairs of chimney stacks and are partially obscured by the attached later wings. The rear elevation similarly retains its neoclassical treatment with quoins and platbands. At ground level there is a raised central double-leaf doorway, a box-bay window to the west, and a service stair entrance with sash window to the east. The four-window rear elevation includes late 20th-century replacement sash and casement windows. The first and second-floor windows have similar detailing to the front, with most featuring tripartite sashes. A central projecting bay contains a stair window topped by a rounded arch, above which is a one-over-one sash. On the east side is a tall narrow window lighting the service stairs, also crowned by a rounded arch with modern coloured glazing. A section of console brackets under the east corner has been removed. The roof features a central hipped rectangular lantern, with a lunette dormer flanked by two later dormers on the south side, and three pairs of stacks with dentilled cornices.

The original interior plan remains legible, with rooms arranged either side of a central hallway, though some principal rooms have had partitions removed and doorways relocated. Original skirting, floorboards, and architraves survive throughout, particularly in the halls and landings. Most doors have been replaced with 20th-century fire doors and some former doorways have been blocked or widened.

The central hallway's ceiling features a modillion and dentil cornice with three rosettes. The front and rear double-leaf doors are later replacements. At the south end is the principal cantilever staircase with stone steps, open strings, a curtail step, and decorative cast-iron balustrade topped by a mahogany bun handrail wreathed at the bottom. Adjacent to the east is a small hallway with a dog-leg secondary staircase of timber with cast-iron balustrading to second-floor level, then timber square spindles to the attic, with a later metal security screen between second floor and attic.

Ground-floor rooms retain original doorway openings and most of the window shutters with hinges, latches, and panelled aprons. To the west of the hallway a pair of former rooms has been partially opened by removing the dividing wall, with a modern suspended ceiling. One surviving timber chimneypiece remains, though boarded over. On the east side, the north-east corner room retains its exposed original ceiling with decorative cornice and rosette, and features a pair of alcoves. Further east, through a partially infilled arch, additional rooms have been opened to form a side corridor.

The first-floor landing ceiling retains decorative plasterwork with cornicing and a rosette. It is flanked by two large rooms; the eastern room was formerly subdivided. Most doorways remain original, though one opening has been enlarged. Windows retain panelled aprons. In the south-east corner, an original decorative plaster ceiling is exposed, window shutters are retained, and there survives a chimneypiece consisting of a mantel shelf supported by marble scroll consoles and jambs with a cast-iron fireplace.

The second floor is reached by the secondary staircase. Most doorways are original, though some have been blocked or replaced. Most windows retain panelled aprons and a few chimney breasts retain timber surrounds with cast-iron fireplaces. Most rooms preserve their cornicing, plainer than the lower levels; some are covered by suspended ceilings. The south-west corner room features an egg and dart cornice above a suspended ceiling.

The attic retains its original timber roof structure reinforced with later supports. At the centre sits the roof lantern with ceiling cornice and rosette; changes in the floorboards beneath suggest there may once have been a void allowing light into the floor below.

Beneath the secondary staircase is an enclosed set of steps leading to a large brick cellar running under the east side of the building, and a half-storey cellar beneath the west side.