78, 80 AND 82, PROMENADE

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE PROMENADE 630-1/13/744 (South East side) 05/05/72 Nos.78, 80 AND 82 (Formerly Listed as: PROMENADE (South East side) Nos.80 AND 82) (Formerly Listed as: PROMENADE (South East side) Nos.74, 76 AND 78)

GV II

Probably 3 houses, now 4 shops. c1820-40 with later additions and alterations including conversion to shops probably pre-1845 and c1980s ground-floor glazing. Ashlar over brick with slate roof. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, with 3rd storey at right, 9 first-floor windows. Left 2 and right 3 windows break forwards. First floor has 6/6 sashes except at right a 2/2 between 1/1 sash; crowning entablature and low parapet at left; 2nd floor has casement window. Ground floor has 2 shop fronts, that to left (beneath 3 first-floor windows) has panelled plinth, basket-arched plate-glass shop windows with slender mullions, canted in to central entrance a glazed door; continuous frieze with raised segmental-arched central panel. Otherwise shop front (to Nos 80 and 82) has end panelled pilasters and 3 dividing pilasters with ornate decoration and continuous entablature has scroll decoration with masks and dentil cornice; renewed plate-glass windows and glazed doors. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORICAL NOTE: The Promenade was laid out in 1818 as a tree-lined avenue connecting the Colonnade in the High Street to the Sherborne Spa (on the site of the Queen's Hotel qv), by 1826 it was a carriage drive with spacious gravelled walk on each side. Buildings on the NW were the first to be developed. Although originally on either side were 'rows of elegant houses', by 1845 when Rowe wrote his Cheltenham Guide (published 1850) he noted that 'nearly the whole of the left-hand (SE) side .. is devoted to professional or business establishments'. The frieze to Nos 80 and 82 is a rare survival in the Promenade of a feature associated with its mid-C19 expansion. (The Buildings of England: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: London: 1970-: 146; Williams GA: Guide

Book to Cheltenham: 1824-: 29; Rowe G: Illustrated Cheltenham Guide: Cheltenham: 1850-1969: 12-14).

Listing NGR: SO9480322273