Colston School, Former Bishop'S Palace

Colston School, formerly known as the Bishop's Palace, is a house built around 1725, later altered between 1841 and 1845 by Decimus Burton. The building is constructed of red brick with limestone dressings and is designed in a Georgian style. It has a double-depth plan, two storeys, and an attic, featuring a symmetrical front with seven windows arranged in three sections separated by rusticated pilasters. The façade includes a ground-floor plat band, a cornice, and an attic course with coved coping.

A large porch with Doric pilasters, an entablature, and a blocking course leads to a segmental-arched doorway with an overlight. The windows on the central section consist of three, with the middle window being taller and round-headed on the first floor, while the attic window is flat. The other windows have keyed segmental heads, architraves, bracketed cills, and 6/6-pane sashes with fine bars. The right return mirrors this design, comprising five sections and a doorway with attached Doric shafts and an entablature adorned with triglyphs.

Inside, the interior is largely from the mid-19th century and features a high central hall that leads to a lateral stairwell. The stone open-well staircase has a cut string and smooth soffit, cast-iron balusters, a wreathed rail, and a curtail step. Ground-floor rooms are decorated with modillion cornices, coffered ceilings with roses, and shutters featuring acanthus panelling. Historically, the building was originally called Stapleton House and became the residence of the Bishop of Bristol and Gloucester in 1840 after the original palace was burned during the Reform Bill riots. It became part of Colston's School in 1857.