32, Promenade

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE PROMENADE 630-1/13/734 (South East side) 12/03/55 No.32

GV II

Library, now shop. c1820-40 with later alterations including c1980s ground-floor shop front. Stucco over brick with mansard slate roof and iron verandah. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, with attic to mansard, 2 first-floor windows. 6/6 sashes where original, taller to first floor. Attic has 1/1 sash. Cornice surmounted by parapet with 2 urns. Glazed shop front. INTERIOR: not inspected. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: balustrade at first floor possibly by Marshalls, the motif derived from LN Cottingham. HISTORICAL NOTE: by 1845 when Rowe's Cheltenham Guide was written (published 1850), this was Wright's Theological Library. Rowe noted, 'Theology has now become so necessary a part of polite education, that libraries are formed in most towns for the use of those devoted to its study. This library contains all the most useful works on this subject, together with a miscellaneous stock of standard literature.' The facade remains the same from the first floor, the ground floor has paired end Ionic columns and a central entrance with fanlight between 2 round-arched windows. The Promenade was laid out in 1818 as a tree-lined avenue from 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. Although originally on either side were 'rows of elegant houses,' by 1845 Rowe noted that 'nearly the whole of the left-hand (SE) side .. is devoted to professional or business establishments.' Nos 28 and 30 (qv) together with No.32 form a single commercial unit at Review. (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: 13 (ILLUS)).

Listing NGR: SO9490322426