99 and 100 Victoria Road

Two formerly detached houses of the early to mid-C19, with C19 and C20 alterations. They became the printing offices for The Advertiser in the mid-C19. The C20 buildings to the rear are excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS: the façade of the two buildings is of Bath stone, with banded rustication to the ground floor. The rear wall of 99 Victoria Road is of brick. The rear wall of 100 Victoria Road is of rubble stone. Both have timber brackets supporting a moulded timber eaves cornice. The roof of 99 Victoria Road is concealed behind parapet walls. The pitched roof of 100 Victoria Road is covered in slate tiles, and has inserted roof lights.

PLAN: 99 Victoria Road has a double-pile plan. 100 Victoria Road has a single-pile plan, with a projection to the south-east corner.

EXTERIOR

99 Victoria Road is a three-bay, three-storey building. The ground floor has central double doors, flanked by single windows with glazing bars to the upper sections. The first floor has a central Venetian window with 16-lights, flanked by four-pane sidelights and is a variant of the earlier examples at 100 Victoria Road. To either side and to the storey above are 12-light, horned sash windows. To the rear is a mid-C19, tall, brick chimney stack in English bond.

100 Victoria Road is a three-bay, two-storey building with chamfered quoins and a gable-end stone stack; the brick shaft is a mid-C20 addition. The recessed, central, arched doorway with Tuscan columns supporting the entablature is flanked by tripartite windows, with glazing bars to the upper sections, Tuscan square pilasters and a moulded entablature. The first floor has a central, round-headed sash window. To either side are Venetian windows with a 16-light round-headed sash window, flanked by eight-pane sidelights. The windows have Tuscan square pilasters supporting the entablature with dentils to the cornice. The window to the right has had a roundel inserted in the mid-to late C20 containing a piece of salvaged medieval glass depicting an angel.

INTERIOR: the two buildings have been amalgamated. The interior of 99 Victoria Road is plain. The principal first-floor room of 100 Victoria Road has round-headed alcoves, wall panelling, cornices and a decorative window surround. A partition wall has been inserted across its rear wall to create additional rooms behind, and a further partition wall has been inserted to the north, concealing the inserted floor which cuts across the other two, first-floor windows. These rooms retain some panelling, cornices and joinery. The roof is a king strut collar truss with longitudinal girders. The fireplaces and the original staircases to both buildings have been removed; although the stair window surround to No 100 is extant.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the C20 buildings to the rear of 99 and 100 Victoria Road are not of special architectural or historic interest.