Electricity House

Electricity House is a red brick electricity substation built in 1894-5, likely designed by Joseph Hall, the borough engineer. It is located in Cheltenham, fronting onto Clarence Street and St George's Place. The building is constructed in an Italian Gothic style, inspired by the Strozzi Palace in Florence. It is rectangular with an outshut to the north, and a tall brick end stack to the west with a cornice and copings.

The main south facade, facing Clarence Street, is three storeys high with three first-floor windows. It features a rough stone plinth, a blocked central arch, and two round-arched ground-floor windows with six-pane casements. A moulded terracotta band runs across the facade, with a continuous sill band above. The central section has a triple window featuring fixed-light casement windows flanked by columns with foliate capitals. Above this, a moulded frieze, cornice, and blind round-arched arcade are topped by a brattished frieze, deep cogged band, cornice, and further blind arcade and cornice. The west facade is one bay deep, and incorporates the set-back outshut, continuing the decorative detailing from the south facade. A panelled door with an overlight bearing the lettering 'Electricity...' provides access to the outshut. The interior has not been inspected.

Historically, the sub-station was part of Cheltenham’s first electricity supply, transforming 2000 volts down to 100 volts at an unusual frequency of 94 Hz. In 1907, the sub-station was converted into electricity offices, but the building has since reverted to its original use. A commemorative plaque from the Cheltenham Civic Society and Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology is present. The building occupies a prominent corner site and forms part of a group of Victorian buildings including the Library, Museum and Art Gallery, the Church of St Matthew, and Shaftesbury Hall.