Belgrave House with attached railings and pier

Belgrave House, now a restaurant, was built as a boarding house around 1820-34. It is constructed of stucco over brick, with a concealed roof and has renewed ashlar detailing, including iron railings and a window box. The building has a central hallway with curved rooms to the right and an irregular entrance facade.

The three-storey building, with a basement, has two windows on the first floor and an outshut added to the right. Stucco detailing includes paired Ionic pilasters to the right end, a first-floor band, and a continuous crowning architrave with a raised blocking course and two stacks. A horseshoe-shaped flight of steps leads to the off-centre left entrance, within a tetrastyle Ionic porch with an entablature and solid balcony. The entrance has double six-panel doors with a margin-glazed, coloured glass overlight. A four/four sash window is situated to the left return of the porch. The first floor has an eight/eight sash above the porch and a six/six sash on the right. A basement entrance is to the left of the porch. The right return features a full-height bow with a central break forward. The ground floor bow contains a tripartite six/six sash flanked by two/two sashes; the first floor has a six/six sash; and the basement has an eight/eight sash, all with curved sections.

The interior retains original features, including plasterwork and joinery. The ground floor features a deep acanthus frieze with a scroll motif to the ceiling and a central rose, as well as egg-and-dart cornices. A dogleg staircase has rod and bobbin balusters and a wreathed handrail, with embellished tread ends. The first-floor staircase has a run-out handrail with a lion's paw detail. Other features include four-panel doors and a hallway with a Coalbrookdale tile floor.

Spearhead railings abut to the right with a gate to a forecourt, featuring a renewed rusticated pier with a pineapple finial. Further spearhead railings are present on the sides of the steps, along with a panelled balustrade with lozenge scrolls. The ground floor window box to the bow has decorative scrolls.

According to Merrett’s Map of 1834, Belgrave House was originally part of a single building with numbers 108-118 Promenade. A guide to Cheltenham from 1845, published in 1850, refers to it as ‘Mesdames Haydon and Shaw’s Boarding House’, noting its high-quality internal accommodations.