Rodborough Crest, The Curtal and Endover

A house in the Cotswold Arts and Crafts style, designed by architect P.R. Morley Horder for Charles Apperley and built between 1911 and 1913. The building was subdivided into three separate dwellings in the later 20th century.

The house is constructed from local oolitic limestone with Cotswold slate roofs, ashlar dressings and stone stacks. It rises to two storeys beneath steeply pitched roofs and features windows with stone mullions and leaded panes, some of which open on hinges. Stone drip moulds sit above the windows.

The street front elevation presents an irregular composition of three bays with a central gabled bay projecting forward to form a porch. The gable end includes stonework detailed with an imitation nesting box feature. The left and right bays contain windows to both floors, with a modern inserted door on the right. Projecting forward to the left and right are gabled cross wings that create a courtyard. The left wing projects considerably further to the south, displaying twin gables facing east and a chimneybreast set within the left gable. The right wing (Endover) has a modern single-storey extension.

The garden front to the west comprises six irregular bays. A slate-tiled projection at ground floor level contains a garden door. The composition includes two gabled bays, a narrow bay with a small inserted gable breaking through the eaves, and two further gabled bays to the left (The Curtal) set forward. A canted bay window features prominently.

The north elevation of The Curtal displays a wide gable bisected by a projecting chimneybreast with offsets, which is wider at ground floor level and incorporates a three-light window. Tall window openings at first-floor level flank the chimney. A ground-floor door and three-light window feature in the left bay, with a single-light opening above set to the right.

Interior features of particular note are concentrated in Rodborough Crest. An internal porch contains a letterbox set into the outer wall with a glazed metal door. The hallway opens through a glazed door into an inner hall, which is oak panelled with an oak stair. The landing above is supported by large-section oak beams with bar stops and joists. Internal doors throughout Rodborough Crest are oak with iron fittings and studs.

A principal room to the west of the inner hall features a stone fireplace, an oak picture rail and decorative plasterwork on the ceiling. The principal room to the south is partially divided by an alcove. The north end is oak panelled with an oak window seat and a carved oak mantelpiece and overmantel above a stone fireplace. Large-section beams rest on stone corbels beneath an ornately plastered ceiling. A hinged oak screen accompanies the garden door.

The southern part of the room contains a wide oak-panelled inglenook with carved detailing in the east wall. The brick-arched fire is topped by a carved oak chimneypiece with a linenfold section that appears to be reused from an earlier period. A servant bell is fixed to the panelling to the right of the fireplace. The ceiling displays decorative plasterwork, and the floor is oak with oak skirting boards. Numerous windows to both floors retain iron window fittings.

The stair features twisted balusters and elaborately carved newel posts, ascending to a galleried landing. Three principal bedrooms contain stone fireplaces, with the master bedroom having an adjoining dressing room and bathroom. The corridor leading east from the landing has been sealed and no longer provides access to the former service wing (Endover).

In The Curtal, a large stone fireplace survives in the principal ground-floor room, along with four original doors. The proportions of the ground-floor rooms have been altered with an eastern extension to accommodate a stair. Iron window catches remain on the first floor.

In Endover, the original door to the principal ground-floor room survives, along with the fireplace and French window with shutters contained within it.

Subsidiary structures include a stone gateway and walling at the west end of the garden, probably dating from the original construction, with a cast-iron gate installed in 1914. Parts of the garden wall may also date from 1913, along with the terrace to the garden front. These structures contribute to the special interest of the building.