Reg No
50011062
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Old Men's Asylum
Original Use
Dormitory building
In Use As
Hostel (charitable)
Date
1820 - 1840
Coordinates
316100, 235662
Date Recorded
12/10/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Terraced three-bay four-storey house over part-raised basement, formerly asylum for elderly men, built c.1830. Gutted by fire c.2009 and extensively refurbished c.2010, for use as hostel. Single-span pitched slate roof behind parapet wall with granite coping and replacement hopper and downpipe breaking through to either end. Rendered chimneystacks rising from either gable end. Yellow brick walls laid in Flemish bond on granite plinth course over rendered basement walls and rusticated granite quoins to either end. Cement rendered walls to both gable and rear elevations. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with patent rendered reveals, painted granite sills and recent replacement six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows. Gauged brick round-headed door opening with replacement timber doorcase. Door opens onto granite platform with cast-iron bootscraper and flight of eight granite steps enclosed by original wrought-iron railings set on concrete plinth wall. Front garden now paved in concrete and enclosed by iron railings on rendered wall and pair of iron gates. Rear site paved in cobble-lock paving for parking and enclosed by tall rendered wall.
This symmetrical terraced house was extensively damaged by fire in recent years with much original fabric lost and replaced. Locally known as the'Old Men’s Asylum', the house is now in use as a hostel for the homeless. Possibly of an earlier date than the remainder of the terrace to the east, the house appears to have been raised by a further storey during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, evident in the awkward wall to window ratio of the top floor. Despite the loss of much original fabric, the house sits comfortably within the overall streetscape while retaining the residential character of the area.