Prospect House, Nos. 3 and 3a Prospect Place

Prospect House, Nos. 3 and 3a Prospect Place

An early 19th-century house, now divided into two flats, with 19th and 20th-century alterations.

The building is constructed of smooth-plastered mass-wall construction with a slate tile roof and stone chimney stacks with brick shafts.

The plan is a double-depth arrangement with rooms to either side of a central hall, with rear additions of lesser architectural significance.

The exterior presents a two-storey house with attic accommodation. The principal north-west elevation is arranged as three symmetrical bays flanked by pilasters with incised mouldings. The deep, boxed eaves feature an eaves band and moulded brackets. A central round-headed recessed archway forms a shallow porch, containing a six-panel entrance door with fielded panels and a fanlight above with radial glazing bars. The doorway is flanked by eight-over-eight hornless sash windows, with three further eight-over-twelve sashes to the first floor, each set within an individual cast iron balcony with a spider's web motif and scrollwork. Two gabled dormer windows with three-over-three sash windows light the attic.

The south-east rear elevation features a two-storey building of mass-wall construction to the ground floor and brick laid in stretcher bond to the first floor, with a glazed sun-room above. An attached lean-to addition houses the staircase. A gabled dormer with a pair of sash windows with margin lights lights the attic, and a further gabled dormer with a pair of one-over-one sash windows is set back to the right.

The interior is divided into two separate flats. The ground-floor flat is accessed via the central doorway of the principal elevation and leads to a narrow hallway with reception rooms to either side. The north-east room contains a mid-to-late 19th-century fireplace with an inserted Edwardian cast-iron grate, and a blocked doorway with a moulded architrave and corner blocks with floral motifs dating from when the house was joined with its neighbour to form a school. A large arched niche cuts through the picture rail to the rear wall. The south-west room has an early 20th-century fireplace with a copper grate. Both rooms retain their early 19th-century plaster cornices, moulded architraves to the windows, window shutters, and late 19th-century picture rails.

The hallway continues through one of a pair of arches with imposts and pilasters carved with Greek key patterns, with a single archway opposite. This rectangular section of hallway has an oval ceiling centrepiece and a moulded early 19th-century cornice. The principal staircase, formerly located to the right of the hallway, has been removed and replaced by a bathroom. A further reception room to the left of the hallway contains a mid-to-late 19th-century fireplace with cast-iron grate, and a cupboard to the right of the fireplace that was formerly a doorway to the neighbouring property.

Beyond the single archway, the hallway continues to a curved south-east end containing an early 19th-century four-panel curved door, leading towards the kitchen which retains its early 19th-century fireplace (the range has been removed), and a small room beneath the rear staircase. The rear staircase leads to the first-floor sun room and provides access to the first-floor landing via an arched opening.

The first-floor landing is curved at the south-east end with an early 19th-century cornice. The rectangular section at the north-west end has moulded archways and pilasters to three sides and a cross-vaulted ceiling, providing access to the reception rooms. The principal north-east room has a pair of sash windows with window shutters set within a moulded architrave with corner blocks containing floral motifs. It retains an early 19th-century cornice and fireplace with the grate removed. Two further early 19th-century fireplaces have roundels to the corner blocks, one containing a mid-19th-century cast-iron grate. The room to the left of the landing contains a former doorway to the neighbouring property. To the right of the landing is the principal staircase providing access to the attic rooms.

Throughout the interior are early 19th-century six-panel doors with moulded architraves, some featuring carved corner blocks.