Melbourne House

WELLS

ST5445 CHAMBERLAIN STREET 662-1/7/67 (North side) 12/11/53 No.36 Melbourne House

GV II

Detached house set back from road, converted as offices, 1993. Later C18. Doulting stone ashlar, the side portions rendered, Welsh slate roof between coped gables, rendered chimney stacks. PLAN: compact square main range is symmetrical with square entrance hall with offset staircase flanked by single rooms and 2 large rooms to rear; each side has a slightly set-back wing, to the left a one storey conservatory with lean-to roof, and to the right a larger block with hipped roof to parapet, and with secondary staircase. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, 5 bays. Sash windows of 12 panes in plain openings with quintuple keystone heads. Entrance in bay 3, with 6-panelled door without fanlight framed in stone surround leaving attached Doric columns, full entablature with metopes and pediment. The left wing has one sash with keystones, and the right wing is plain on this front. Moulded cornice, blocking and parapet to main range, with gable stacks. The rear has 2 large Palladian windows at each floor, and the service wing has 15 and 10-pane sashes, and a large doorway in stone architrave with pediment. INTERIOR: undergoing modification at the time of inspection has unusually high ceilings. The square entrance hall has a fine dog-leg stair to the right, running to a half-landing at the front of the building-the landing carried on slender fluted cast-iron columns, and having thin shaped stick balusters to Doric newels, a mahogany handrail, and scrolled ends to the treads. The lower floor has a modillion cornice, a fire surround with egg-and-dart enrichment, a dado rail, and panelled shutters. The upper landing has a rosette and a moulded cornice. Doors are panelled, with raised mouldings, and the thick walls have panelled linings. The upper landing has an elliptical opening. Rooms otherwise simply detailed. The service wing has a wide dog-leg staircase with stick balusters.

Listing NGR: ST5470645835