Russell Almshouses

The Russell Almshouses, located on Church Street in Tewkesbury, were founded in 1674 and rebuilt in 1831. They underwent modernization between 1958 and 1960 and were reinstated in 1989. The building features a fine limestone ashlar front with brick returns and a back, topped by a slate roof. It is a long, narrow hipped block with eight bays, with the central bays (3 and 6) brought forward to form gables. The structure is two storeys high and has a 2:2:2 window arrangement, with all windows being double chamfer stone 2-light mullion and transom casements that include stopped drip courses.

In the brought-forward bays, there are plank and nail-head doors set within 4-centred arches, which have decorative spandrels beneath a drip course. Above these doorways are sunk square panels featuring blank shields, and small lancet windows with drip courses sit under obelisk finials in the gables. The steep gables are adorned with moulded saddle coping and three finials. The building has full-height buttresses with two offsets, diagonal buttresses at the ends, and square buttresses between paired windows. There are three prominent stone stacks with moulded cappings, a deep plinth, and deep eaves with a cavetto mould.

The ends of the building are plain, featuring stone diagonal buttresses at the outer corners. The back has a simplified form of the front fenestration with a deeper window for the stairs opposite the doorways. The almshouses have been well renovated for modern occupation, and the various dates of construction and renovation are inscribed on the front wall.