Survey Data
Reg No
50010964
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
The Southern Hotel
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Hotel
Date
1765 - 1770
Coordinates
315801, 235284
Date Recorded
22/09/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced three-bay four-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1768. Now in use as multiple-occupancy apartments. Pitched slate roof behind rebuilt red brick parapet wall with squared granite coping. Stepped red brick chimneystacks with clay pots shared with adjoining houses. Cast-iron rainwater goods throughout. Flemish bond red brick walls with moulded granite plinth course over rendered walls to basement level. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with brick reveals and granite sills, rendered surround to basement opening. Replacement timber sliding sash windows throughout,six-over-six pane to basement, nine-over-six pane to ground and first floors, six-over-six pane to second floor and three-over-three pane to top floor. Round-headed door opening within tooled limestone doorcase having engaged Tuscan columns on plinth blocks surmounted by moulded frieze, paired entablatures and open-bed pediment housing plain fanlight. Replacement timber panelled door with stone reveals opening onto granite-flagged platform with granite stepped approach, bridging basement area. Approach flanked by wrought-iron railings on moulded granite plinth having cast-iron boxed corner posts. Matching single-leaf gate granting access to basement via rendered steps with wrought-iron handrail. Interior entrance hall having original chair rail and skirting with Rococo plasterwork to ceiling. Over-doors having griffins and scrolled foliate designs. Panelled reveals to doorway with stair hall, with inset floral medallions. Turned balusters to staircase with carved tread ends, replacement newel and ramped handrail. Rope cornice to stair hall. Ornate tympanum to first floor landing on scrolled brackets. Rococo ceiling above stair hall.
Appraisal
As one of the first buildings to be built on this terrace, this historic townhouse served in the mid-nineteenth century as a boarding house, and in the early twentieth century as The Southern Hotel. The retention of various key historic features, such as the fine brick façade, the substantial classical doorcase, and appropriate timber sash windows, enhances this building and provides it with its significant architectural heritage quality. Together with the retention of the granite steps and plinth, and the ironmongery to the entrance and basement area has helped maintain the building's historic aspect and it continues to be an integral component of the streetscape. North Great George's Street itself, laid out in steep, stepped terraces, was developed from 1768 as a result of the granting of commercial leases on the avenue leading to the Mount Eccles Estate and in response to the expansion of the Gardiner Estate. Simple but well-executed extant Rococo interiors, particularly to the entrance hall, further enhance the building's architectural and artistic merits.