The Observatory is a Grade II listed building in the Isle of Wight local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 May 1972. Villa.
The Observatory
- WRENN ID
- second-steeple-quill
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Isle of Wight
- Constituency
- Isle of Wight East MP: Joe Robertson (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 May 1972
- Type
- Villa
- Address
- The Observatory, 11, Melville Street, Ryde
- OS grid reference
- SZ 594 925
- Coordinates
- 50.72976, -1.15931
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Observatory is a small villa built around 1830, originally facing Nelson Street. It is two storeys high and has a stucco façade with a low pitch hipped slate roof and projecting eaves. The front facing Nelson Street features a bowed end with two recessed sash windows, some of which still have their glazing bars intact. There is also a ground floor verandah with a tent hood supported by slender cast iron columns. A later addition in the 19th century, also stucco faced, raised the elevation on the Melville Street side, which now serves as the main entrance.
Local climate
The Observatory receives an average of 800 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 54% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 95% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 9 transactions since 1997
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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