Reg No
50930143
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1815 - 1835
Coordinates
316487, 232858
Date Recorded
28/08/2015
Date Updated
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Attached two-bay four-storey over basement former townhouse, built c. 1825, as a pair with No. 16 (50930144). Two-storey single-pitched return to rear (east) elevation. Now in office use. M-profiled roof, hipped to south, concealed by brick parapet with granite coping. Pair of brick chimneystacks to north party wall with largely replacement lipped clay pots. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond, rusticated ashlar granite walling to ground floor, rendered walls to basement beneath granite stringcourse. Smooth rendered walling to rear (east) elevation. Square-headed window openings with brick voussoirs, rendered reveals and granite sills. Truncated round-headed window opening to second floor or rear (east) elevation. Iron guard rails to second floor reveals, cast-iron balconettes to first-floor windows. Bipartite timber casement windows to ground and first floor with overlights, six-over-six timber sliding sash windows to second floor, three-over-three to third floor (diminished in height) and eight-over-eight to basement having cast-iron grille affixed. Largely replacement timber casement windows to rear (east) elevation. Elliptical-headed door opening with moulded rendered reveals and recessed surround with Greek-Doric portico having plain frieze and moulded cornice supported on fluted Doric columns, with petal fanlight and four-panelled timber door with beaded-muntin and brass furniture. Shared granite entrance platform with cast-iron boot scraper, approached by three bull-nosed granite steps and flanked by cast-iron railings with decorative arrow finials over granite plinth, enclosing basement well to north. Replacement mild-steel steps to basement with plainly detailed replacement door beneath entrance platform. Coal-hole cover to pavement. Modernised two-storey mews building to rear plot, concealed by random limestone rubble wall to Lad Lane Upper, with brick parapet having masonry coping. Wall pierced by square-headed pedestrian opening with brick surrounds, granite step and timber sheeted door with elaborate iron hinges. Segmental-headed carriage-arch with brick voussoirs, carried on tooled ashlar limestone piers with chamfered corners and timber-sheeted gates.
Relatively well-retained with some historic windows, decorative petal fanlight and Doric doorcase, No. 15 contributes to the historic streetscape character of Fitzwilliam Place. Casey (2005) notes that the interior of No. 15 is exceptionally rich, 'with immensely deep cornices, overdoor friezes, and in the hall plaster panels of putti as the Four Seasons and pretty turn-of-the-century stylized paintings of sunflowers in tall urns flanking the door.' Developed in conjunction with the east and south sides of Fitzwilliam Square, the eastern side of Fitzwilliam Place was completed by 1836, with the exception of five houses to the south-end. Built in pairs or groups, the house designs emulated those of Fitzwilliam Square South. Although the street is largely homogeneous in character, the variations in detailing, proportions and scale are indicative of the speculative nature of development.