Dowry Parade

Nos. 289 and 291 Dowry Parade are a pair of attached houses located on Hotwell Road in Bristol, built between 1763 and 1764 and divided around 1790. They were constructed by Benjamin Probert and Robert Comfort in a style reminiscent of Thomas Paty. The houses are made of red brick with limestone dressings, featuring large brick party wall stacks and a double-depth pantile roof.

The buildings have a mid-Georgian style with three storeys, an attic, and a basement, presenting a symmetrical front with rusticated pilaster strips and a moulded coping. The paired central doorways are framed by raised ashlar surrounds with imposts and a cornice, topped with semicircular arches that contain plate-glass fanlights and 20th-century doors. The façade includes five stepped voussoirs above 6/6-pane sashes in flush frames, along with two raking dormers; the middle windows across the party wall are blocked. There are steps leading down to open basement areas, with arched cellars beneath the deep flagged pavement, which formerly had railings.

The rear elevation features a projecting full-height central hipped section across the party wall. Inside, the entrance hall has a semicircular arch on brackets, a rear dogleg stair with stick balusters, column newels, and ramped rails, along with six-panel doors. Historically, the doorcases with Gibbs surrounds and pediments that were originally present on the single-fronted houses in the parade were replaced when the houses were divided. Various speculative builders were involved in the construction, using designs similar to those of Thomas Paty.