Ribston Hall And Attached Frontage Railings

Ribston Hall, a large hotel built in 1829 for John Phillpotts, stands on Spa Road in Gloucester. From 1860, it served as a college for young ladies, later becoming an art school annexe in 1970. The building is constructed of stuccoed brick, with a probable slate roof.

The rectangular block features a projection to the rear right, and the main facade is set back behind a paved area and a former formal garden enclosed by railings to the right. The front elevation presents five symmetrical bays, with a slightly recessed, narrower sixth bay at the left. The design includes an offset plinth and a shallow coped parapet above a removed cornice. The ground floor's central bay originally housed an entrance within a porte cochere, which has since been demolished, though its flanking pilasters remain. The doorway itself is framed by a wide segmental-arched opening with an architrave, keystone mask, moulded door frame, and a decorative fanlight with radiating bars. The other ground-floor bays are treated as an arcade, featuring stuccoed piers with Greek Revival channelled patterns and moulded imposts, each adorned with an incised Greek key pattern. The arches have plain architraves, each enclosing a recessed tympanum with a repeating incised pattern. Sashes with 4x4 glazing bars are set within stone sills with projecting ends supported on moulded brackets. The first floor has sashes with 3x5 glazing bars framed by shouldered architraves, moulded cornices on end-brackets, and projecting sills with moulded end-brackets. Second-floor sashes have 4x4 glazing bars in openings with moulded eared architraves and projecting sills on end-brackets.

The east (garden) elevation mirrors the entrance front, with four arcade bays and sashes of varying sizes. The first floor has a pediment above the central window. The interior was not inspected during the listing process.

A wrought-iron railing with turned finials on the standards defines the street frontage. Originally known as The Spa Hotel, the building catered to visitors of Gloucester Spa. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was reportedly a guest during her convalescence.