Rax

Rax is an 18th-century building that appears on Hutchins' map from 1774 but was described as "lately erected" in 1786. It was purchased in 1827 by Thomas Collins Colfox, a notable Unitarian, merchant, and Alderman from Bridport, and after his death in 1835, it was "considerably altered and enlarged" by his widow, who passed away in 1858. The building features a stucco front and painted brick at the road end, standing two storeys tall. The east front has a modillion eaves cornice and five ranges of sash windows with glazing bars and keystones, along with a four-panelled door that has anthemia moulding and a fanlight, topped by an iron lamp on brackets. The west front showcases ashlar rusticated quoins and window surrounds, a moulded eaves cornice, a parapet, and an open pediment over the central bays. It includes three-light sashes with glazing bars in the centre, a Venetian window with marginal glazing bars and a balcony on the first floor, and end bays with one range each of early 18th-century cased sashes set in an early 19th-century recessed two-storey panel with segmental heads. There are two attic dormers with pediments and casements featuring glazing bars. Inside, the staircase hall has a shallow dome on pendentives, and the staircase boasts an elaborate mid-19th-century cast iron balustrade. Throughout the interior, there are seven terracotta roundels painted blue and white, depicting neo-Grec scenes in relief. William Colfox, T C Colfox's son, married the daughter of Andrew Abbot, a partner in the Turner pottery firm in London, which may explain the presence of these roundels. Rax is part of a group that includes the garden wall to Rax, the Grove, the garden wall to the Grove, No 32 and its outhouses, the gatehouse of No 32 and its wall, outhouses to the south of Wykes Court Garden, and several other properties on both sides of the street.