122 and 122a Castle Hill

This is a house, built between 1810 and 1840, and now subdivided into flats. The building is composed of two main elements: a symmetrical three-storey main block with a basement, spanning three bays, and a slightly recessed one- to two-storey wing to the west, possibly built in two phases.

The building is largely stuccoed, with possible painted stone surrounds for the doors and windows, and has a slate roof. The western elevation, facing Carey Street, is of painted brick. The entire Castle Hill frontage is stuccoed and painted, with channelled decoration to the ground floor, a plat band above, and rusticated quoins flanking the three-storey main building. The central bay of the ground floor features a large, symmetrical stucco doorcase, possibly a later addition or replacement, containing a three-panelled door with fluted quarter columns and a fanlight with curved glazing. Either side of the door are six-over-six sash windows, with a semi-circular iron grate covering a basement light well. The first floor contains sash windows with six-over-six glazing, and the second floor has three-over-three windows, all set within moulded surrounds. A raised oval panel, formerly displaying the words ‘CULHAM HOUSE’, sits above the central second-floor window. A corniced parapet hides the main building’s hipped slate roof.

The west wing, at the junction with Carey Street (122a), consists of two sections. The eastern section, adjoining the main building, has single two-pane sash windows on both ground and first floors, the first-floor window within a moulded surround matching the main building, and a matching parapet cornice concealing a hipped slate roof. The western section has a five-panelled door under a round-arched fanlight, and a large segmental-arched former shopfront containing a fixed three-light timber window. This westernmost element is topped by a pedimented parapet concealing a pitched slate roof.

The rear elevation, partially visible from the street, is smooth rendered and painted in the same colours as the front, and contains a mix of historic and modern windows. The ground floor of the two-storey west wing is bowed, and a bowed single-storey extension runs along the main building’s eastern boundary wall, shared with 120 Castle Hill.