Ireton House (Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education) and Attached Balustrade

Ireton House, now part of Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, is a villa dating to 1843. It is constructed of stucco over brick, with a hipped slate roof and stucco ridge and lateral stacks. The building has an L-shaped plan and stands two storeys high with a basement and an attic to the left return. It features five first-floor windows. Stucco detailing includes a first-floor sill band, and all windows have tooled architraves; those on the ground floor have cornices on console brackets. The windows are predominantly 1/1 sashes, with taller examples on the ground floor, in plain reveals with sills. Some blind boxes and Venetian blinds remain to the first floor. Basement windows are concealed. On the left return, several 6/6 sashes remain, including those serving the basement; the attic dormer window is a casement. The main entrance is reached by a flight of seven roll-edged steps, leading to a four-panel door with sidelights and an overlight within a porch that has two pairs of fluted Doric pilasters, an architrave, a frieze with triglyphs and metopes, a cornice with guttae and a blocking course. The attached balustrade to the right features a scrolled lozenge motif. The building's historical context includes its location within The Park, which had been laid out in 1833 as a tree-lined drive with a central park. It was influenced by the designs for Regent's Park in London and was originally known as Malvern House, occupied in the 19th century by Honl Percy Moreton and Col Archibald Impsey Lovibond. It was acquired by St Mary’s College in 1945. The interior was not inspected.