Cumberland House

CUMBERLAND HOUSE

Cumberland House, on the east side of Norfolk Crescent, comprises Nos. 1-7 (consecutive), now converted into 35 flats. Originally part of a symmetrical crescent of 18 large houses, it was built from around 1810, probably designed by John Palmer and completed by John Pinch. The building was severely damaged during air raids in 1942 and was reconstructed in the 1960s following the original fenestration pattern.

The crescent was developed on land leased in 1792 to an attorney named Richard Bowsher, who operated with two builders, James Broom and John King. Individual house leases were then granted to tradesmen. However, credit constraints following the outbreak of war with France in 1793 caused considerable delays. Only the first nine houses—included in this section—were completed by 1810, with the remainder built in an identical style afterwards. John Pinch's involvement in the design has been suggested, as Bowsher, the scheme's main promoter, was managing Pinch's bankrupt affairs in the 1790s. The crescent represents a notable edge-of-town development combining an ambitious urban-scaled project with rural prospects, in the manner of the Royal Crescent. Along with the slightly later Nelson Place, it is a significant Georgian composition. The post-war restoration earned a Civic Trust award in 1963, commemorated by a plaque on the north return of No. 1.

The building is constructed in limestone ashlar with slate roofs. The facades feature a segment of circle to a 420-foot radius. The front elevation originally had deep double-depth plans with four storeys and a basement; 20th-century additions to the rear rise to six full storeys, resulting from a change in site level. Post-war reconstruction preserved the original fenestration across 27 bays (with a further one or two bays shared with the adjacent group). Windows are glazing bar sashes, with six-pane lights in the attic course above twelve-pane sashes. The main storeys have eighteen-pane sashes opening onto stone slab balconies with fine iron balustrades at first-floor level. The ground floor has twelve-pane sashes; basement windows are also twelve-pane, filled with masonry in bays eleven through twenty-two, with small vents. Bays twenty-seven and twenty-eight contain eighteen-pane sashes at ground-floor level, with a stone vaulted structure occupying most of the basement space.

The left-hand end bay features blind lights at each level. The first three bays are divided by four giant Ionic pilasters, with this unit brought forward slightly at the stopped end—a composition repeated at the far end (see also Nos. 8-18). The right-hand end forms part of a central pedimented five-bay section with six giant Ionic pilasters, flanked by two-bay wings set forward in two slight steps.

Panelled doors occur in bays seven, nineteen, twenty-two, and twenty-five, each with a transom light. Former doors in bays ten, thirteen, and sixteen have been replaced by sashes. The ground floor is rusticated, with rusticated voussoirs to windows and doors. Balcony edges are reeded. A sill band to the second floor is threaded to the pilasters, with a continuous lintel and entablature above, topped by a small cornice, blocking course, and parapet above the attic. An enclosed pediment faces bays twenty-six onwards (part extending into Nos. 8-18). The slate roof is hipped to the left with coped party divisions and two-stage ashlar stacks.

The return to Great Stanhope Street comprises three bays, with bay three having blind lights and other windows following the front pattern. A central panelled door in deep reveals features rusticated quoins, which also appear at each end; the floor is not fully rusticated here. The rear elevation is entirely late 20th-century work, with ashlar above coursed rubble at lower-ground levels.

Across the entire frontage run spearhead railings with tassels to the basement areas, returned at doors and former doorways. An original iron overthrow survives at the right-hand end (No. 7), matching that to No. 14.

The interiors have been comprehensively remodelled following war damage, though some features are thought to survive. The houses have been subdivided into council-owned flats.