Red Gables

Red Gables is a house built between 1884 and 1885 for William Hudson Scott (of the Metal Box Company) by George Dale Oliver of Carlisle. It is a group value building of architectural merit. The exterior is of glazed red brick laid on a moulded brick plinth, with red sandstone dressings and terracotta tile decoration. It has a red tiled roof and original moulded brick ridge chimney stacks.

The house is three storeys high and originally three bays wide, with a four-bay return on Currie Street. It is markedly asymmetrical in style, influenced by architect Alfred Waterhouse. The left bay projects to its full height with coped gables, kneelers, and decorative tiles. It features a canted bay window with cross-mullioned glazing on the ground floor, and two-light cross-mullioned paired windows above, with three-light windows on the upper floor. The remaining bays incorporate a triple-arched loggia containing an external staircase leading to the front door. The loggia entrance is topped by a pointed arch with scrolled iron gates, and painted arches rise with the staircase, featuring low arched balusters. Some windows on the upper floors have had their mullions removed; a French window provides access to a balcony above the loggia, with 20th-century iron railings extending around the return. The Currie Street return features a two-storey segmental bow with four-light brick mullioned windows, and a large decorative gable projection with cross mullioned windows and a half dormer. A recess between these features also has similar windows and a half dormer. Principal gables are punctuated with decorative terracotta panels.

The interior was not inspected at the time of listing. The house was exhibited at the Royal Academy and illustrated in The Building News. William Hudson Scott died at the property in 1907, and the house was subsequently converted to a private school known as Red Gables. The school closed in December 1966, and the building was gutted to be converted into flats in 1907, prior to which Art Nouveau stained glass internal details were recorded. Original plans are held at Cumbria County Record Office, Ca/E4/1624, with further details relating to the school available at Ca/132/1907/2 and DX/991/1. A photograph showing the ground floor of the building before 1907 is featured in Templeton (1988), and Carlisle Museum holds a photograph taken shortly after construction.