Hillside

Hillside is a large house, now converted to flats, built in two phases by the local architectural practice of Morris and Stallwood for W I Palmer of the biscuit manufacturing firm Huntley and Palmer. The original section is dated 1880, with an extension added in 1898 by the same architects. The building is constructed of grey brick with slate roofs featuring red tile cresting, and displays extensive red brick and terracotta dressings throughout.

Entrance Front

The right-hand section from 1880 presents three asymmetrical bays across two and a half storeys with basements, fronted by a single-storey porch set forward from the main building line. The facades feature moulded brick storey bands and cornices, with some bays displaying small dentil cornices and others showing moulded plaster friezes. Windows and doors sit beneath gauged brick arches, most enriched with decorated keystones.

The symmetrical left-hand bay contains a pair of rectangular ground floor windows beneath shaped rubbed brick arches and heads. The first floor has cambered windows flanked by small rectangular lights set between red brick pilaster strips that rise through two storeys and terminate in ball finials. These frame an upper floor window set beneath a small, richly moulded red brick pediment, all clasped by moulded timber eaves. Terracotta panels appear at upper floor level beneath the moulded plaster frieze.

The central bay features a nearly symmetrical two-bay porch, defined by pilaster strips surmounted by ball finials, with each bay beneath a small, enriched red brick pediment. The left-hand bay contains an oriel window with heavy glazing bars retaining some original coloured glass panes, with a semi-basement window below. The right-hand entrance under a similar arch leads to an outer lobby with a doorway to the left under a gauged brick head. The door comprises raised and fielded panels with substantial brass door furniture. Within the porch, the rear wall of grey brick sits within a red brick arch and contains an oculus that lights the basement stairs. The floor is finished in polychrome tiles. Shaped stone steps ascend within a splayed red brick parapet wall that terminates in square piers with ball finials.

The upper floor is arranged in three bays defined by shallow pilaster strips beneath a frieze of moulded sunflowers. Cambered-headed small-paned sashes flank a rectangular two-light small-paned casement under a fanlight. The symmetrical pedimented right-hand wing has a single rectangular small-paned sash at each floor set in a deep red brick architrave beneath a dated terracotta tablet in the pediment. Tall slender grey brick chimney stacks feature red brick strips and horizontal bands.

The left-hand addition from 1898 is symmetrical, extending two and a half storeys across two bays, with a shallow stair bay to the right containing a service entrance. Red brick frieze and dentil cornice appear at each floor level, with a plaster frieze beneath the eaves. Rectangular small-paned sashes sit in red brick architraves. The paired ground floor windows share a continuous red brick apron, while first floor windows are enhanced by pilaster strips. Terracotta aprons sit beneath paired upper floor sashes, each pair under a pediment with a grey brick face containing a terracotta rosette and rich red brick dressings, all clasped by moulded timber eaves. A tall grey and red brick stack with moulded cap rises from this section. The service entrance sits under a shaped parapet with an angle pilaster bearing a ball finial, beneath a tall small-paned sash stair window set directly below the eaves.

Right Return

The right return presents two bays of two and two and a half storeys. Continuous storey mouldings and dentil cornices run across the elevation, with terracotta panels at first floor level. The left-hand bay features a pedimented canted bay in red brick with sash windows having small-paned upper sashes. Ground floor windows sit under shaped gauged brick heads. The right-hand wing, defined by red brick pilaster strips terminating in ball finials, contains an aedicular red brick niche at first floor flanked by tall sashes. A richly moulded red brick pediment with grey brick frieze is flanked by shaped grey brick panels linking to the pilasters. A pair of narrow, small-paned lights appears above.

Garden Front

The garden front is asymmetrical, arranged in five bays with similar details to the entrance front. A continuous dentil cornice runs across the first floor and at upper floor level across all but the original two and a half storey bay; the right-hand extension features a plaster frieze. The original house has a two-storey canted bay to the left, with each face displaying a small pediment. The nearly symmetrical two and a half storey right-hand bay is set forward, with a ground floor entrance to the right under a round arch. The upper storey features a pediment above a two-light small-paned casement, flanked by pilaster strips rising from the floor below and terminating in ball finials.

All other windows are sashes with the upper sashes containing small panes, set in moulded timber architraves beneath slightly cambered gauged brick arches at ground floor and flat moulded arches at first floor. The extension comprises two bays. A two-storey canted bay to the left has a moulded red brick parapet, with windows similar to the original building. The upper floor details mirror those of the entrance front.

Left Return

The left return displays a broad pedimented bay with services concealed behind a screen wall at ground floor. At first floor, a pair of timber canted bays with sashes (the upper sashes small-paned) flank a small central casement beneath a dentil cornice. The pediment contains tripartite small-paned lights above a terracotta apron dated 1898, with a small oculus above.

Interior

Only the public areas were accessible for inspection. The inner porch features a raised and fielded panelled dado and polychrome mosaic floor. The oriel window has richly moulded architraves, with most panes retaining yellow or ochre painted glass panels. The inner door has lower raised and fielded panels with upper glazed panels, the margin lights retaining yellow or ochre painted glass.

The hall displays a raised and fielded panelled dado beneath a frieze of deep panels with carved rosettes. Deep moulded ceiling ribs feature drop finials. Doors of five raised and fielded panels, picked out in paler wood, sit in moulded architraves with rondels at the angles beneath flat-topped shaped canopies on moulded brackets. Heavy brass finger plates and locks complete the doors. The chimneypiece features an eared architrave with fluted frieze beneath a possibly later pediment with shaped brackets to the sides.

A passage with similar dado leads to a pair of doors with glazed upper panels containing painted glass similar to the front door, beneath a rectangular overlight. Deep arched ribs with moulded panels and turned feet span the passage. The main staircase is an open-well closed-string design with deep moulded string, enriched at the landing with triple panels. Square or turned newels bear turned finials, with turned balusters and moulded handrail. The dado features vertical fielded panels. The upper gallery stands on slender turned columns supporting a broad central arch and narrower outer arches, all beneath the frieze repeated from the hall. The inner face has a plain frieze and dentil cornice. The architraves of stair windows have rondels at the angles.

Upper floor doorways sit in architraves with rondels at the angles and carved drapes falling from them. Doors of five raised and fielded panels feature brass door furniture. Lincrusta dado runs between moulded skirting and rail. Simpler doors in the upper floor passage and added wing have moulded panels in moulded architraves.

The ground floor common room incorporates the end bay of the original house, including the garden door, beneath a lower plaster ceiling set in a rich timber frame. A panelled dado runs around the room beneath a simple plaster ceiling above a rich moulded frieze. The richly carved chimneypiece features a scrolled pediment above mirrored panels, with a polychrome tile fire back and hearth.

The basement stairs, located below the main stairs, are similarly panelled to the hall with a turned baluster screen to the hall. The basement retains polychrome encaustic floor tiles in the original house. The back stairs feature square newels with ball finials and stick balusters.

The house was built for W I Palmer of the biscuit manufacturing firm Huntley and Palmer. It stands as one of the most opulent buildings of this period in Reading, a town that possesses a rich diversity of late 19th-century housing. Morris and Stallwood were prolific and accomplished local architects, well attuned to tastes and trends in public and private building, suited to serving a wealthy client wishing to invest in a building of the highest quality.

The building is now owned by Reading University and subdivided into flats. Only public areas are accessible and this description is based on visible rooms; other rooms are said to contain chimneypieces and cupboards. Although the grounds have been partially built over, the house retains its entrance drive, gatepiers, gates and railings, and some of its garden, giving it its original sense of scale, space and context.