Gloucester Lodge (Number 129) Sherborne Lodge (Number 131) Gate Piers And Gates

Gloucester Lodge (number 129) and Sherborne Lodge (number 131), along with their attached gate piers and gates, are a pair of semi-detached villas, later used as shops, constructed around 1833-34. The architect was likely John Forbes. The buildings are stucco over brick, with concealed roofs and feature iron window guards and balconies.

The villas are two storeys high, with a basement level, presenting seven first-floor windows and recessed entrance bays at each end. A central three-window section projects forward, accentuated by four fluted columns topped with Prince of Wales feather motifs. Doric pilasters define the breakforwards at the ends of the main range, and a continuous crowning entablature runs along the top. Ground-floor windows are framed by tooled architraves and friezes featuring a circular motif, similar detailing appearing on the entrance architraves. A central entrance has roll-edged steps. Additional entrances, recessed at the ends, feature glazed double doors to the left and panelled doors with overlights within Doric pilastered surrounds, set within projecting porches with pilasters. The main range’s first-floor windows are six-over-six sashes with margin lights; ground-floor windows are French windows; and the outer ranges have casement windows with blind openings above, all within plain reveals with sills. Basement windows are four-over-eight sashes.

The interior retains original plasterwork, including an acanthus frieze on the ground floor to the left. A staircase with stick balusters is present on the left side. Otherwise, the interior has not been inspected.

Subsidiary features include balconies on the ground floor to the left with bombe fronts and leaf and scroll decoration; those to the right have an openwork heart and scroll motif. Three balconies with double-scroll and lyre motifs grace the first floor. Two rusticated, square gate piers, each with a dentil cornice, support plank gates to the left.

The Promenade, of which these lodges are a part, was laid out as a tree-lined avenue in 1818, becoming a carriage drive by 1826. The northwest side was among the first to be developed. The buildings appear on Merrett’s Map of 1834. John Forbes acquired the plot for number 129 (Sherborne Lodge) in 1833, later becoming architect to the Pittville Estate around 1835-6. Numbers 121, 123, 125, 127, 129, and 131 form a notable group of semi-detached villas alongside number 133 and the Queen’s Hotel, overlooking Imperial Gardens.