Summerhouse In Garden Of No. 209

Summerhouse in garden of No. 209 Wick Road, Brislington, Bristol

This is a former summerhouse dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, possibly designed by Daniel Hague. It is constructed of hand-made brick laid in Flemish bond with Bath Stone dressings and parapet, and the roof is clad in gritted asphalt. The building is of simple rectangular plan.

The main south elevation comprises three bays formed by three pointed Gothick windows with low sills. The windows now contain 20th-century timber frames with vertical glazing bars. Between the windows are two blind quatrefoil panels. Above runs a Bath Stone parapet detailed with Gothic blind arcading, with pinnacles at each end featuring recessed panelling on the faces and pyramidal upper portions. The parapets to the east and west elevations are also of Bath Stone, though these are embattled. The windows in the flank elevations retain their interlaced Gothick glazing bars, though the former entrance doors below these heads are now missing. A 20th-century brick garage has been attached to the west elevation.

The interior is plain, finished in modern hardboard with a modern ceiling.

This summerhouse was originally part of the grounds of Wick House, a substantial late 18th-century mansion that was described as "a capital new-built mansion house" in a Bristol newspaper advertisement in 1794. The house was built when Brislington was a village in the hinterland south of Bristol and served as a favoured retreat for Bristol merchants. The first occupant was the Reverend Thomas Ireland, rector of Christ Church, Broad Street. Around 1794 the house was bought by Charles Hill, who owned it until 1830. The grounds were celebrated in Neale's Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, which described them as a place "in which natural advantages have been judiciously improved by art", featuring garden buildings, a rustic hermitage and a lake. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, under the ownership of the Harding family (local paint manufacturers), some of the grounds were sold off for development. Between 1900 and 1920, a terrace of seven houses was built on Wick Road, with No. 209 at the end. Unusually, this summerhouse was allowed to remain in the grounds of this house, though all other garden buildings have been demolished. Wick House became an orphanage in 1925.