Grafton House

ROCHESTER HIGH STREET TQ 7468 9/68 Nos 90 and 92 (Grafton House) 24.10.50 GV II Former large town house, now offices. First quarter of C18. Brick with stucco dressings; roof material not visible. Double- dept house with centre-left stairs and rear service wing. Lateral stacks. 3 storeys. Almost symmetrical 5-windowfront range with end pilasters; parapet and fine moulded wooden dentil cornice. All windows with 4-pane horned sashes in revealed frames under rubbed brick flat arches with shaped keyblocks; between the upper floors an interrupted moulded brick cornice, the centre section with keyblock. The ground floor with rusticated stucco throughout; pilasters to either end and flanking slightly off-centre doorway, the door with pierced panels and rectangular overlight. Windows, with modern fixed barred glazing. Between ground and 1st floor a moulded stucco cornice which continues to either side across (to the left) a single-storey annexe with side door and shop window with glazing bars and (to the right) an entrance that led originally into the side entry now occupied by offices. Above each side section of cornice is a shaped gabled parapet. Left return with windows either blocked or with hornless sashes. Right return with plat bands and shallow external stack. Rear with some sash windows. Interior: dog-leg stair with turned balusters and square-section newels with caps and pendants; ground floor with some wainscotting (large raised and fielded panels) visible and more probably obscured; internal round-headed arch with keyblock to hall; some panelled doors with H-hinges and internal shutters, top floor with framed ceiling, the chamfered beams with scroll stops.

Listing NGR: TQ7436168483