Diamond Cottages

Diamond Cottages is a terrace of 4 attached cottages on Banbury Road in Summertown, dating to the early and mid-19th century. Nos. 3 and 4 were built circa 1830/40 as timber-framed structures with brick party walls, while Nos. 1 and 2 were added soon after as rendered brick. All four cottages are unified under a continuous hipped tile roof.

The south-facing elevation presents a regular composition of panelled doors with overlights and large 8-over-8 wood hornless sash windows to both ground and first floors, set in reveals with shallow projecting cills. No. 1 at the west end features an arched through-passage leading to the rear yards, with the cottage entrance accessed from this passage. Two shared chimney stacks pierce the hipped roof, which has overhanging eaves.

The north elevation comprises gabled 2-storey outshuts, one to each cottage, with 6-over-6 wood sash windows at ground and first floor levels. That belonging to No. 1 was enlarged in the late 20th century. The east and west elevations have overhanging eaves, with the west elevation blank.

Internally, each cottage follows a similar plan with a side entrance leading directly into a hall and living room, with a dining room and stairs to a rear cell containing kitchens. A 2-storey rear outshut houses secondary facilities. Individual stone cellars lie beneath each cottage, spanned by brick relieving arches beneath the chimneystacks.

No. 4 is the most architecturally complete. Its ground floor contains a 6-panel door with overlight into an entry corridor with cornice and console brackets at an arched opening. The staircase features replaced turned balusters and newel posts. The dining room retains dado panelling, built-in panelled cupboards, a blocked fireplace, 4-panel doors, and a 6-pane hornless sash to the rear. A wide architraved opening connects to the front room, which has a cornice and flat pilaster fireplace surround with tiles and iron grate. Floors throughout are of wide plank wood. The first floor front room contains a 4-panel door, a cupboarded alcove with 4-panel door, and a simple pilaster fireplace surround with iron grate. The secondary bedroom has a 4-panel door, a hornless 6-over-6 rear sash, and a plain fireplace surround with iron grate.

No. 3 retains original sashes and trim to its ground floor front room, though the fireplace has been blocked in the 20th century. A built-in cupboard and staircase with column newel and turned balusters survive. The main bedroom contains a 4-panel cupboard door.

No. 2 preserves complete sliding panelled shutters and an architrave to an original 12-panel sash window in its ground floor front room. A cornice matches that in No. 1, and a picture rail runs to the front room. The staircase features stick balusters and a column newel post. Sash windows, cornices, architraves and 4-panel doors are found throughout. The secondary bedroom has built-in panelled cupboards and a simple fireplace surround.

No. 1 similarly retains complete sliding panelled shutters within an architrave framing an original 12-panel sash window at ground floor, with a matching cornice to the front room. Its staircase has stick balusters and a column newel.

The cottages were built on the site of Diamond Hall, an 18th-century tavern of ill repute that was converted into 4 tenements in the late 18th century before being replaced by these cottages in the early 19th century. The terrace retains its original scale, charming exterior character, and interior plan form and fittings of considerable interest.