Gloucester House

Gloucester House

Built around 1845-50, Gloucester House is a three-storey Italianate townhouse with attics and basement, set on Richmond Hill. It is constructed of stock brick laid in Flemish bond with tuck pointing and stone dressings to the front elevation, finished with a hipped slate roof and end brick chimneystacks.

The front elevation is architecturally ambitious and highly decorated. A tall parapet runs the length of the facade, with the centre section ramped up and articulated with three stone panelled piers topped with pyramidal caps; two similar piers with pyramidal caps mark the ends. An elaborate dentilled eaves cornice and vermiculated quoins provide further enrichment to the composition. The basement is rusticated.

The second floor contains three cambered 9-pane sashes set in moulded architraves with stops and keystones; the central window's keystone is carved with a female mask. The first floor's central window is framed by a pedimented surround with brackets and contains 12-pane sashes, while the end windows have curved pediments decorated with wreaths and brackets, with tripartite windows without glazing bars. The ground floor features end curved bays with dentil cornice, tripartite windows with marginal glazing, flowerguards on grooved stone bases with brackets, and fine quality ironwork. A central Tuscan porch projects from the ground floor, ornamented with a frieze of wreaths, partly fluted and partly plain columns, ornamental cast iron balustrading between the columns, and a double door with glazed top panels containing patterned ironwork. A flight of steps flanked by urns leads to the entrance. The basement level has curved bays with sash windows featuring glazing bars.

The rear elevation is considerably plainer. It retains original sash windows throughout, predominantly 16-pane, with a taller 15-pane sash serving the staircase and a round-headed window below. The ground floor incorporates a glass and trelliswork verandah containing original cast iron balustrading, wooden end panels, and a multi-coloured tiled floor, with French windows with marginal glazing beyond. Steps flanked by stone balustrading with urns lead from the verandah. The side elevations have openings only at basement level, with a tooled stone half-winder staircase on the right side fitted with plain cast iron balusters.

The interior is of high quality. A notable mahogany-handrailed staircase features elaborate cast iron balusters and a cornice decorated with ovolo-moulding, paterae and brackets. Throughout the ground floor, six-panelled doors are used throughout. The former Sitting Room to the front right has a moulded cornice with acanthus motifs, deep skirting board and an original curved recess. The former Morning Room behind contains a wooden fireplace adorned with swags and paterae, beneath an ovolo-moulded cornice. The former Dining Room to the rear left features an alcove (probably for a sideboard), pilasters and an elaborate cornice. A narrow service door gives access to an intact dumb waiter in the corridor outside.

The basement is exceptionally well preserved. It includes a tooled stone staircase with cast iron railings, original flagstone flooring, a wine cellar with tooled stone shelves, a larder and still room (one fitted with slate shelves, the other with mixed slate and wooden shelves), three rooms with built-in dressers, and a front right room probably used as the housekeeper's room, complete with a wooden fireplace and built-in cupboards and drawers likely for linen storage. Servants bells were in storage at the time of inspection. Original panelling and a marginally glazed door serve a mezzanine level toilet.

The first floor retains original joinery including four-panelled doors and window shutters. Four marble fireplaces with elaborate cast iron firegrates are present; one features paterae and pilasters, another has plain pilasters, and the front rooms' fireplaces are crowned by cornices with anthemions and paterae. The second floor contains two marble fireplaces and one wooden fireplace, along with two original built-in cupboards. A narrow winder staircase provides access to a boxroom.

Gloucester House was constructed on land formerly part of the Ellerker House estate (52 Richmond Hill, now the Vicarage School). On an adjacent parcel from the same estate, a pair of semi-detached houses called Gloucester Villas were erected to the south of Gloucester House, but these were demolished in the late 1960s. The house appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1862.