Church House, Reading

Early to mid-C18 house, extended and altered in the 1930s and converted to a restaurant in the 2010s.

MATERIALS: red brick in Flemish bond, with a rendered east elevation, all under a clay tile roof.

PLAN: originally on a square, double-pile plan extended to the west side and now broadly rectangular.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation faces south onto Chain Street and is two-storey plus a lit attic and is arranged across five bays. There is a three-bay, single-storey extension to the left side.

The original section has a wide entrance to the left side containing a pair of two-panel doors under a radiating fanlight with curved glazing bars. The C20 panelled doorcase has a pair of elaborately carved scroll brackets decorated with cupids and inverted acanthus, which support a segmental, open pedimented hood with panelled soffit. To either side, there are two-over-two sash windows with cornice above. To the right there are three, timber sash windows with six-over-six glazing, under gauged brickwork, arranged as a flat arch. To the first floor, there are five sash windows of a similar design, beneath a stucco string and coped, brick parapet. The roof is hipped with a central, square valley and has three, flat-roofed dormers with timber casements.

The east elevation has more irregular fenestration and a brick chimney stack projects from the south end. To the north, there is a three-over-three timber sash window on the ground floor and a nine-over-six timber sash on the first floor under a stucco string course. Adjoining to the north is a C19 extension. On the ground floor, it has a four-over-eight timber sash window and a carriage entrance with timber doors and a moulded stucco surround. On the first and second floors there are pairs of modern, two-pane, timber sashes. The roof over is pitched, with the rear slope partially levelled out. The original glazing bars and modillion cornice survive on the west front.

The 1930s extension is single-storey and has a wide central doorway with modern, glazed doors, flanked by a pair of narrow, timber sash windows with four-over-four glazing. The doorway and windows have flat-arch heads in gauged brickwork. Above, there is a brick string course and a coped, brick parapet. At either end of the elevation, there are moulded, iron rainwater goods, with raised lettering on the two hoppers reading ‘MDE’ (the western hopper) and ‘1931’ (the eastern hopper). The extension has a flat roof.

INTERIOR: this includes a staircase of around the 1740s with a wide, oak, moulded handrail, ramps and wide, turned balusters, which continue to the basement. There are two, pedimented doorcases to the staircase, one segmental, the other triangular. The ground floor room has an eared chimneypiece with pulvinated frieze to the front. The room above has a marble fireplace with an Adam-style surround with swaged frieze including cupids and a lion. The attic has a partition wall which retains part of a reused, moulded timber jetty.