Bleak House is a Grade II listed building in the Thanet local planning authority area, England. House. 8 related planning applications.
Bleak House
- WRENN ID
- sombre-lime-violet
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Thanet
- Constituency
- East Thanet MP: Ms Polly Billington (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- House
- Address
- Bleak House, Fort Road, Broadstairs and St. Peters, CT10 1EY
- OS grid reference
- TR 399 679
- Coordinates
- 51.35982, 1.44506
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Bleak House is an early 19th-century house, significantly altered and extended in 1901. Originally named 'Fort House', it served as the residence for the Fort Captain during the Napoleonic Wars. The house held significance for Charles Dickens, who used it as a lodging and wrote 'David Copperfield' in 1849 and planned 'Bleak House' there, though the 'Bleak House' described in the novel is entirely fictional. The house was later renamed.
The house is constructed of brown brick, with the right-hand portion representing the original building, standing three stories high. A crenellated parapet tops the facade. The older section features two altered mullioned and transomed windows with a hood moulding. The 1901 addition incorporates J mullioned and transomed windows, including a five-light bay extending through two stories. The original entrance to the older wing has been blocked and replaced with a window, and the original bow window has been recased and given a crenellated top. A brick porch with a crenellated parapet and arched opening featuring a hood moulding serves the modern wing. The interior now functions as a Dickens Museum. Original features include a mahogany staircase and some fireplaces. The building is designated at Grade II for its associations with Charles Dickens.
Local climate
Bleak House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 87% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 67% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 8 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 94% of listed buildings. Of these, 4 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 2 transactions since 2005
- Related listed building consents — 8 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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