Abbey House

Abbey House is a house built between 1829 and 1830 by the architect John Buckler for John Reeves. It has undergone alterations and extensions around 1850 to 1860 and further changes in 1957. The building is designed in the Tudor Gothic style and features two storeys plus attics with gables. It is constructed of freestone and has three gabled bays that project forward, with the central bay containing the entrance. The house has a moulded cornice, crenellated parapets, a slate roof, and clustered stacks. A stringcourse and moulded plinth are present, along with six mullioned and transomed windows with arched heads, all set within square hoodmoulds. The central first-floor window is notable for its carved corbel in the form of an oriel. The entrance features a four-centred arched doorway with carved spandrels and double doors under a porch. To the right, there is a lower two-storey wing with four windows. The service wing attached to the north side was extended into a small stable yard around 1850 to 1860.

Inside, the house remains largely intact, showcasing Tudor style panelled doors within moulded doorcases, moulded plaster ceiling cornices and friezes, panelled window shutters, chimneypieces, and an original cantilevered main staircase with a Gothick cast-iron balustrade, along with servants' stairs featuring stick balusters. In 1957, the drawing room was converted into a chapel, and a window on the east side was blocked.

Abbey House is part of an important group that includes Glastonbury Abbey, the wall surrounding the grounds of the Abbey, and the listed buildings from No 3 to No 17 Chilkwell Street. John Reeves purchased the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey in 1825-1826 and commissioned Buckler to design this house, which was constructed within the grounds of the Abbey. Abbey House is recognized as an early example of the Tudor Gothic style.