Deaf Institute

The Deaf Institute, located off St Mary’s Square in Gloucester, is a town house dating to approximately 1690, with alterations and additions in the 20th century. It was later used as the offices of the Deaf Institute, and was unoccupied in 1995. The building consists of a main block with two slightly projecting wings flanking the entrance, and two wings at the rear. The brick facade is rendered and painted white, with stone details painted black, topped by a hipped slate roof with gabled dormers and brick stacks.

The symmetrical front elevation has 2 bays in each of the flanking wings and one central bay (a 2+1+2 arrangement). A stone band runs along the first floor, and the former crowning cornice has been removed. The central doorway is accessed by three stone steps leading to a landing between the wings, featuring a timber doorframe with a square fanlight above the transom, the latter with glazing bars forming a diamond pane surrounded by smaller panes. Above the fanlight is a stone segmental pediment supported by moulded brackets, its tympanum carved with a shell motif and rosettes. The door itself is six-panelled, with fielded upper panels. The front wings contain sash windows with 2x4 panes in openings with flat heads and projecting sills. A similar sash is located in the central bay, with a segmental-arched head. Three dormers are situated above the front; each wing's dormer has a moulded triangular pediment gable, while the central dormer features a segmental gable, all with double-hung casements and horizontal glazing bars.

The interior features a dog-leg staircase with 2 barley-sugar balusters per tread and a toad-back handrail, and a clustered newel of 4 balusters. A panelled stair hall has fluted pilasters framing fielded panels. A ground-floor room to the right has raised panelling above and below a moulded dado, with raised plain panels, a matching two-panel door, and a central elliptical arch. The upper floors were not inspected at the time of listing.