Chapter 8 A Tour of Weymouth’s Georgian Seafront Architecture - 1815 to 1855 |
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Royal Terrace was
commenced about 1816 on the site of the Royal
Shrubbery as a group of 18 houses - twelve at
the centre with a "pavilion" of three houses at
each end that were raised a little and stepped forward.
The architect is not known. Only two units remain at the south end. and these are Flemish bond brickwork with slate roof. They are typically one room width and double depth, with three storeys, an attic and basement. Each house is three windows width. The two sash dormers of each house are late 19th C with decorative barge boards and finials. The first floor windows are of classic proportions with fifteen panes taken to the floor level and an external balcony on cast iron brackets with original cast iron railings, The ground floor has two 12-panes windows and arched doorway. The end house has deep reveals to the door with transom light under a bold Doric portico with entablature and heavy blocking course. The next three houses were of Flemish bond brickwork but No 70 is now rendered. They are three storey similar to Nos. 68 and 69. No. 70 has two late 19th C gabled sash dormers with decorative barge boards and finial. The parapet has been cut down opposite the dormers. No. 71 has been considerably modified with a prominent late 19thC canted oriel taken through two storeys and dormer to a hipped roof. The ground floor has a full width modern shop front Each house had a raised ground floor with a stone staircase and surrounding railings but few such entrances remain today. These three houses are part of a second phase of building in 1818. |
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| No 73 has painted
brickwork at the front and is three storey with two late
19th C dormers. The first floor has a full
width stone balcony with cast iron balustrades. The
arched doorway has reeded transom and plain fanlight and
original panelled door. There are
original spearhead railings. No 73 was the last house of
the first phase to be built in 1816 and there is a
straight joint in the brickwork to the adjacent house. |
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| Nos 76 to 80
were built at the same time in 1816 and apart from No. 80
are rendered. Gabled dormers are late 19th C
and number 76 retains glazing bars to the second floor
windows but an unsightly full width window has been
inserted into the first floor. All ground floors have
modern shop fronts a ground floor. No. 81 retains its flat roofed dormers and the first and second floor windows have glazing bars. Again the ground floor has a full width shop front. Nos 82, 83 and 84 form the end of Royal terrace and were built in 1816 as part of the first phase. Nos 82 and 83 have flat roofed dormers and both have full width shop fronts at ground floor level as well as 19th C individual window railings at first floor. The end house still has a door in a plain arched reveal with an original panelled door under a radial fanlight. There is a plain band at first floor moulded cornice, blocking course cut down opposite one of the dormers and a parapet. Belvedere Terrace was begun in 1818 but not finally completed until 1855. Surprisingly the long period did not lead to noticeable changes in detail. The architect is not known. The central pair and two houses at each end are slightly stepped forward to provide articulation. The terrace is built in brick but some are rendered. They are three storey with attic and basement. |
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It was as early as 1770 that the Council granted a 110 year lease in favour of Andrew Sproule Esq. of Bath at a rent of £20 per annum for a plot that was 600 feet in length from north to south and two hundred and fifty feet in breath from east to west ". It was described as "waste land on the Narrows (now the site of the Belvedere) forty feet north of Townsends ground". In 1823 there was a another Corporation minute relating to the Melcome Narrows and Belvedere Terrace stating that "Proposals submitted for altering the present mode of tenure on some parts of Melcome Narrows and agreeing to the surrender of leases to Nos. 1,2,3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 front, and 17, 18, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 at rear; and re-granting the part intended for Mr. Weston to him, reserving a rent of 30 shillings on each lot in front, and 10 shillings on each rear lot; also re-grant the part intended for the administratrix of Mr. Vining to her reserving the like rents. Mr. Weston to take Nos. 1, 2, 3, 15 and 16 in front and Nos. 11, 12, 23 and 24 in front, and Nos. 27, 28, 29 and 30 in rear. Rents of existing houses were revised and fixed in respect of future erections" |
| It is a
terrace of sixteen houses of three storeys with basements
and attics; Nos. 1 to 13 have been rendered in stucco.
The earliest houses to be built were Nos. 4 to 6 and
possibly also 7 to 10. Nos 1 to 3 were probably built
around 1832 whilst 11 to 13 around were probably in 1835.
Nos. 14 to 16 were still not built in 1853 when a lease
was granted, subject to their completion within three
years. Most of the houses have flat roofed dormers and the parapet has been cut down in front of some dormers. Each house has three sash windows of 12 panes at second floor. The first floor has 15 pane sashes down to a continuous balcony, there are arched 12 pane windows at ground floor and 16 pane in the basement. Many of the windows retain their glazing bars, whilst No. 24 has a shop front inserted. The windows are generally in plain reveals but the centre one to each house at first floor has thin pilasters supporting consoles to a moulded cornice. There is a continuous stone balcony on brackets with cast-iron trellis-pattern balustrades. Second floor windows are to a sill band and there is a moulded cornice blocking course and parapet. Each house has a wide doorway with small glazed panels at sides under a semicircular-arched head; the ground floor windows have similar arched heads. The front wall is surmounted by a moulded cornice and a parapet. The plan provides for two rooms on each floor with a staircase at the back next to the rear room, and a small service wing behind. |
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| Brunswick Terrace at
the northern end of the Esplanade was built virtually
alongside the beach between 1822 and 1827 by Morris
Clarke and George Cox from 1822
to 1827. It is a terrace of twenty houses of three
storeys with attics. The walls are mainly rendered in
stucco. While still incomplete it was named Brunswick
Row by the Duke of Gloucester
on August 16th 1824. The round house at the end of the terrace was built in 1823 and is a three storey house with attic and basement. It was initially two houses in an imposing . It has an important position facing down the esplanade and it corresponds to the rather more grand Statue House. It has four flat-roofed dormers on the curved mansard roof above canted plain sash bay windows of single, two and three storeys that alternate with blind lights. The bays are flat roofed with cornice bands at each level. The two storey bays at either end of the façade are above a glazed door in deep reveals on four stone steps and an original panelled part glazed door on eight steps. The one storey bay faces down the Esplanade under a blind light and above two blocked arched doorways. There is a plat band at each floor slight moulded cornice blocking and parapet coping. |
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| Nos. 3 to 11 is a terrace of nine houses, rendered except for No. 3. They are a series of narrow fronted houses of in double depth with dog-leg stairs at the back. The original fronts have three storey flat topped bows with dentil cornice, although several have been altered. The front detail to No. 10 was changed in the late 19th century and other variations are at No. 5 with a 2-storey canted bay window above a full width pilaster shop front; Nos. 6 and 11 have two story bows and No. 10 has a canted Victorian full height bay. | |
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Arched doorways to the
left have fanlights above fluted transoms. There is a
slight plinth and a plat band above ground and at first
floor level and a moulded cornice to blocking course and
parapet. Where they are unaltered the elevations are
similar to Waterloo Place. The two houses in the centre of the terrace, Nos. 12 and 13 project slightly and are higher than the remainder of the houses. They are similar to the other houses in the terrace and each has an arched doorway with plain reveals and plain fanlight above a reeded transom to panelled doors. Nos. 14 to 19 is sub-terrace of three storey houses with attics. Although No. 14 was built at the same time as the rest it is not rendered and has a Victorian gabled dormer and a three storey angled bay. Nos. 15 to 19 are identical with a flat roofed dormer above two 12-pane sashes at second floor level (one of these is blind at No. 15) and a two storey flat bow with 8-12-8 pane sashes and an arched doorway on the left with a plain fanlight. |
| The house at
No. 20 is the last of the terrace of 20 and is rendered
with a slate roof. The house is slightly higher than and
stepped forward from No. 19 and its elevation corresponds
to that of No. 2 at the beginning of the terrace. It is
three storey and one window width with a small flat
roofed dormer above a three storey bow. At the second
floor is a blind light and at the ground floor an arched
doorway with voussoirs and keystone with a plain
fanlight. The terrace may have originally extended
further to the right where two later houses now stand. |
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| Waterloo Place
is a terrace of twelve houses built around 1835 and
practically unaltered since then. The architect is not
known. All are rendered except Nos. 7 to 10. Apart from
No 1, which is on a somewhat grander scale than the rest,
they are modest 2-roomed depth with a dog-leg stair to
the right. They are three storey with attic and basement
and each has a flat roofed dormer and slightly bowed two
storey bays, similar to those found at Pulteney,
Devonshire and Brunswick terraces. In No. 1 the bay rises
through three stories breaking the cornice line and with
a higher parapet; No. 5 has a similar bay but stops at
the cornice line. To the right of each, except No. 1, is
an arched doorway with plain fanlight over a reeded
transom and six panel doors. There is a continuous plat band at first and second floor levels and a moulded cornice blocking course and coped parapet. The Lennox Street elevation has central arched windows at three levels flanked by blind openings. A projecting flat roofed portico covers the doorway and has a large arched sash with radial bars. |
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| Frederick
Place was built in 1834 and helps to form an
impressive entrance to the important commercial area of
St. Thomas Street. It was built on what was once part of
the garden of the Royal residence at Gloucester Lodge,
whose formal areas were bounded by the line of modern
School Street on the South, the backwater to the West and
St. Thomas Street on the East. It is a terrace of twelve
houses, each of three storeys with semi-basements and
attics. Today, sadly, just one house of the 1834 terrace
remains intact. The front wall is divided by rendered plat-bands and has a moulded cornice and parapet; the doorways are recessed under semicircular arched brick heads in two orders and are approached by a flight of steps; ground and first floor windows are in two storey bays one to each house with a blind window on the first floor approximately above the front door; each house has two plain sash windows to the second floor. Some of the houses have been remodelled with shop fronts and additional bay windows to the second floor. The ground floor plan of No. 8 with a stair case set between front and back rooms, may not be typical since Nos. 8 and 9 are deeper than the adjacent houses. Immediately to the South is the Greek Doric facade of the Masonic Hall that was attended by James Hamilton for so many years. Although recorded as being built in 1834 there is some reason to believe that the remainder of the building of brick facing, with a dentil cornice, may have been built in 1816. |
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Victoria Terrace and
the Hotel Prince Regent were as first
mentioned muted when a Corporation minute of 1835
recorded that "..... Mr. C. Fooks
to prepare plans for a row of houses beyond the Belvedere. The plan was accepted, agreed to be called
Victoria Terrace, to be sold in five lots by Public
Auction, four lots of houses and the two centre houses in
one lot. A lease was given to Messrs Fooks and
Dodson of eighteen pieces of void land northward
from the Belvedere. Term 100 years". Victoria Terrace and the Hotel Burdon (now the Prince Regent) were finally completed around 1855, well into the Victorian era. It was derived from but did not copy all that had gone before. It adhered to the scale of the older terraces built along the Esplanade. It also introduced a certain monumental quality to the northern end entry of the Esplanade, particularly by the use of Portland ashlar stone at the front. The Hotel now makes a splendid central feature of some weight to the terrace, block which is symmetrically balanced by end pavilions. |
| The houses
are three storey with attic and basement and with a
continuous balcony at the first floor. Each house is
three windowed and all sashes are in moulded architraves
with a keystone. At the first floor they have small
moulded cornice that supports a central raised panel. The
two end units have a raised attic storey and the
remainder have two flat roofed slate cheeked dormers
behind the parapet. One large hipped Victorian canted
dormer has been introduced. Many of the windows retain
their glazing bars, 9 pane to the second floor, 15 pane
at the balcony level, 12 pane at ground floor and 16 pane
in the basement. Doors are generally panelled with a side light and plain transom light, in moulded architraves, and on five stone steps. No. 132 on the left has a projecting flat roofed portico on Ruskinian Byzantine columns. Some of the terrace doors have been blocked off. There are plain sill bands to each floor, a moulded cornice and blocking course with serpentine fluting. The projecting end pavilions have plain corner pilasters and a moulded cornice at attic level. The first floor balcony balustrades are in cast iron with anthemion decorations. The central unit of the terrace, now the Prince Regent Hotel, has a Portland stone ashlar front and slate roof. The four storey front block with attic and basement is linked by a single corridor to a full width two storey service block and ballroom at the rear. All the front windows are sashed either four paned or plain. At attic level are two dormers with arched windows and slightly cambered roofing either side of the raised ashlar attic with arched windows. Second and third floors have two paired windows in the wings and those at second floor have moulded floated cornices. The lower two floors and the basement have canted bays to a balustraded top. At the centre is a triple window to the first floor above a bold square portico on paired columns on pedestals, and pilaster responds on 6 steps with plain architrive and balcony balustrade. The central 20th century doors are under a transom light and are flanked by side windows. There are cill bands to the ground and third floors and moulded cornices full width and carried around the bays above ground and first floor. The centre unit has a plain frieze and cornice on heavy modillions and the lower wings have cement-rendered blocking courses. There are rusticated quoins to the ends and the centre units. |
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