Queens Circus

Queen's Circus is a terrace of six shops with flats above, located on Montpellier Avenue in Cheltenham. The buildings date from approximately 1820-1840, with later alterations carried out in the mid to late 19th century and 20th century.

The terrace is constructed of stucco over brick with a concealed roof and brick party-wall stacks. The main facade comprises three storeys with eleven sash windows on the first floor (three to the left, then two per house) plus one window at the curved angle of No.1. The first-floor windows are 6/6 sashes throughout, set in plain reveals with tooled architraves, those to No.1 incorporating feet. The second floor has a 6/6 sash to No.1; the remaining windows are 3/3 sashes, with curved sections to those at the angle. All second-floor windows sit in plain reveals with tooled architraves, feet and sills where original. The stucco detailing includes a first-floor band where original, with a crowning frieze and cornice that ramps upward from No.2.

The shop fronts all retain their frieze and cornice. No.5 preserves a Victorian mid-to-late 19th-century shop front featuring an off-centre left entrance with a part-glazed door and pediment that breaks into the overlight, slender columnar mullions, basket-arched surrounds to the windows, dentil frieze, overlights with stained glass, dentil cornice, fascia and carved pilasters at the end. No.4 has a part-glazed door to the left and plate-glass windows with panelled aprons. No.2 is fitted with part-glazed double doors, an overlight and mullion and transom windows with console brackets. The remaining shop fronts have plate-glass windows and glazed doors of no particular architectural merit. The entrance to No.1 is positioned at the angle.

The return elevation rises three storeys with twenty first-floor windows. The first floor features three blind openings followed by 6/6 tall sashes throughout. The second floor has two blind openings and a 6/6 sash, then further blind openings and two 6/6 sashes, with 3/3 sashes for the remainder. All windows are set in plain reveals; the first eight windows to the first and second floors are set in tooled architraves, while those to the second floor feature sills and feet. The ground floor has two blind openings with tooled architraves, a pair of entrances (one part-blocked, the other comprising 4-panel double doors with divided overlight) within doorcases with three-quarter engaged Ionic columns topped by a shared architrave with continuous frieze and cornice acting as a sill band to the first floor. The remaining ground floor contains original 8/8 and 6/6 sashes and double 4-panel doors with overlights, plus two shop fronts to the right. No.5 is fitted with continuous first-floor window guards.

In his 1850 Guide to Cheltenham (though written in 1845), George Rowe referred to "the handsome shops in Montpellier Avenue." Rowe's Guide identifies the occupants of Nos.1-5 as Mr Abraham (Optician), Messrs Tyrell and Foster (Cooks and Confectioners), Jull and Co (Tea and Grocery Establishment), Mr Pearson (Chemist and Druggist), and Mr Hacker (Silk Mercer). Contemporary illustrations show only Nos.1 and 2 with tooled architraves and crowning cornices.