Tower House

Tower House is a villa, built in the 1840s with later additions and alterations, including 20th-century attic extensions. It was constructed by Edward Cope and is built of stucco over brick, with a concealed roof. The villa has two storeys and a basement, featuring three first-floor windows and a three-to-one-storey, round tower set at a right angle. Stucco detailing includes tooled architraves to the ground-floor windows, with broken segmental pediments resting on corbels; a first-floor band; and a crowning frieze with paired corbel brackets supporting wide eaves. The ground floor windows are 2/2 horizontal-pane sashes; other windows are 6/6 sashes, with those in the tower curved in section. All windows are in plain reveals with sills. An off-centre right entrance is accessed by a flight of renewed steps leading to a distyle Doric porch featuring wreaths in the frieze. The entrance has a four-panel door with a divided overlight. The tower has first and second-floor bands, along with Regency-style battlements that conceal attic roof lights. The left return has four first-floor windows and a stepped breakforward to the left. Ground-floor windows on the left return are 2/2 horizontal-pane sashes with tooled architraves and broken pediments, matching the front facade; otherwise, the windows are 6/6 sashes. The interior has not been inspected. Originally known as Apsley House, Tower House was part of a development laid out by Cope in 1839-40 on land purchased from Joseph Pitt. It is an unusual and distinguished villa, notable within a group including Sligo House, Southend House, and numbers 1 and 2 Pittville Circus, at the junction of Prestbury Road, Wellington Road, Albert Road, and Pittville Circus.