Alma House And Walls And Piers Adjoining

This is a large villa, built in 1838, with significant later alterations and additions, including interior refurbishment and a conservatory constructed around 1905. The design for the conservatory was by George Walton, in an Art Nouveau style, and involved craftsmen from HH Martyns of Cheltenham. The exterior is stucco over brick, featuring concealed rooflines and end stucco stacks. The building has two main floors and a basement, with an attic at the rear, and five first-floor windows. The end and central bays project slightly and are articulated with pilaster strips and decorative capitals, sitting on a plinth and topped by a modillion entablature and blocking course. Stucco detailing includes tooled architraves to the windows, with a frieze and cornice on the ground floor and flared architraves above. The windows are mostly 6/6 sashes, taller on the ground floor, set in plain reveals with sills and blind boxes. Basement windows are 4/4 sashes. The central entrance is accessed via a tetrastyle porch with fluted columns and "Tower of Winds" capitals, leading to a double four-panel door with sidelights in a tooled architrave with fleurons. A glazed conservatory to the left features a dentil frieze and a gabled end. The left return facade has a three-window range with tooled architraves to the first-floor windows. The rear of the property retains 6/6 sashes, one with margin-lights, and a tall 6/6 staircase sash. The attic has 3/6 sashes. The interior retains elaborate decoration, including an original imperial staircase with fluted Doric balusters and an Ionic colonnade to the landing, lit by a skylight. Regency style plasterwork is present. A room on the left side features light oak panelling, a fireplace with tiles and a brass grate, and a painted overmantel. Art Nouveau glasswork remains in doors, windows, and the conservatory. The building also has stuccoed brick walls and piers to the left and right returns of a front forecourt, mirroring the design of the front entrance piers. Historical records show it was featured in The Studio Yearbook in 1907, and much of the original Art Nouveau metalwork and light fittings remain. Architectural historians consider this villa to be a prime example of George Walton’s work, "one of the most complete of Walton's schemes of this period."