Watlington House

Watlington House, located at 44 Watlington Street, is a Grade II* listed building that consists of two parts. The western section was constructed in 1688 for Samuel and Anne Watlington, as indicated by the rainwater heads marked "1688 W S A". The eastern part is believed to have been added in 1763, although it may be older. The building is rectangular, made of red and silver grey brick, featuring a raised brick string at the first-floor level and a moulded, bracketed wooden eaves cornice. It has a hipped roof covered with old tiles, brick chimneys at the ends, and dormers on the west side, with a valley roof that includes dormers facing the valley.

The east front has two storeys and an attic, showcasing a modillion eaves cornice. It features two large flanking three-light windows with glazing bar sashes and two dormers. The central entrance, likely from around 1688, consists of double doors with five heavily moulded panels, surrounded by a moulded architrave, a frieze, and a cornice supported by curved consoles, topped with a carved keystone. The cornice projects forward over the consoles, and there is a single central window on the first floor above the entrance.

The west front has two storeys, an attic, and a basement, with four dormers featuring moulded pediments and 18th-century casements. There are four ranges of 18th-century glazing bar sash windows above four basement windows, along with a central garden door framed by a moulded architrave in a trellis porch. Above the garden door is a window on the half-landing, set under a moulded brick pediment. To the right, there is a single-storey service wing. The original mullion and transom windows are preserved on the ground floor of the north front.

Inside, the house features a panelled hall with a two-arch screen on fluted piers. The staircase has turned balusters, a straight string, and a double-ramped mahogany dado rail and baluster rail, with a panelled dado likely dating from around 1740. Samuel Watlington served as Mayor of Reading in 1695 and again in 1711.