Casa Bianca And La Casetta

Pair of semi-detached villas on Bathwick Hill, built around 1846 and designed by H.E. Goodridge, with 20th-century additions. Constructed in limestone ashlar with double Roman tile roofs and slate to the rear, the buildings feature cast stone garden ornaments on the dividing wall between them.

Casa Bianca occupies the left position, with an irregular L-shaped plan and a west-facing principal elevation. It rises two storeys with a three-storey belvedere. The entrance front displays an arched triple door with a plain fanlight above, beside a canted single-storey extension. To the left stands a triple arcade carried on smooth Doric columns with shaped keystones to the arches, flanked by arched windows with keystones and central French windows with plate glass sashes. A latticed open parapet fronts the setback first floor, with a circular feature above the entrance topped by a ball finial. The first floor has a single French window with shutters and deep eaves. A square belvedere tower rises to the right above the entrance, featuring an arched window set within a frame at second-floor level, a moulded chimneystack to the northwest corner, and a meander pattern frieze with antefixes at the corners. The south-facing elevation forms a part-symmetrical pair with La Casetta. Single windows to ground and first floor sit within moulded surrounds with keystones; the first-floor window has shutters and a bracketed sill. An arched second-floor window sits behind a stone balcony with an open cross-shaped screen featuring a lion mask boss at its centre. To the right, a gabled projection contains French windows to ground and first floor—the ground floor with shutters opening onto a raised terrace, the first floor arched with shutters and opening onto a bracketed stone balcony with an open cross-shaped curved screen. A concealed kitchen occupies the space to the left of the entrance front.

La Casetta stands to the right, presenting a triple arcade to the centre of its south front matching Casa Bianca's. Triple windows to the setback first floor have shutters and sit beneath deep eaves. A projecting gabled wing matches that of Casa Bianca. The entrance front faces east with a plain ashlar elevation to the left, featuring an arched first-floor window, deep eaves, and a central moulded chimneystack. The centre door, framed between antae with a plain frieze above, comprises double glazed doors that are replacements. A single arched window recesses above the door at first-floor level. To the right, a single ground-floor window sits within a moulded frame with keystone; above stands a pair of narrow arched windows beneath a shallow gable end with deep eaves. A recessed service wing extends to the right.

The interior of Casa Bianca displays exceptional quality. The entrance passage features a skylight and plaster roundels of Thorvaldsen's Day and Night sculptures. Fine Greek Revival plasterwork appears throughout. The dining room to the left, behind the arcade, contains a chimneypiece with columns of yellow Siena marble. Beyond lies a kitchen, probably added around 1870, rising double-height with a glazed lantern over open trusses and a large Gothic Revival chimneybreast. The drawing room features a painted sky ceiling, while the smaller adjoining sitting room displays a purple marble chimneypiece with a stained glass window depicting elephants directly above. Stone stairs with cast iron rails descend beneath a segmentally vaulted ceiling with skylight. La Casetta, generally plainer than its neighbour, retains cast iron foliate rails to its staircase, plasterwork, some fireplaces and most original joinery.

A low garden wall separates the two houses, with a caryatid statue positioned upon it. A stone lion sits outside La Casetta.

These villas formed part of Goodridge's development of the steeply sloping Bathwick Hill section and likely helped finance the construction of Fiesole, his own house situated just above. They exemplify Goodridge's picturesque Italianate style and represented leading-edge domestic architectural design when built. They constitute part of the final phase of Bathwick Hill's development and provide a fitting conclusion to this highly picturesque ensemble.