Description

ROCHESTER MAIDSTONE ROAD
TQ 7467 NW
11/175 Watts' Almshouses
19-2-70
GV II
Almshouses. 1858, by Charles Foord. Mainly red brick with
Portland limestone dressings, the bays of yellow brick and the
central block of random rubble ragstone; Welsh slate roof.
'Jacobean style with knobs on' (John Newman). Central tall 2
storeyed block containing 1st floor Trustees Board Road; long
identical flanking ranges, 1 and 2 storeys, originally with spine
corridor serving accommodation to rear and front, now re-
organised. Central block consistsw of a porch (to right) with
round-headed arched doorway of several orders, stopped and
moulded with voussoir straps, approached by stone steps with
railings, under a low Flemish-style gable. To the right an angle
buttress with many set-offs supports a tall polygonal turret with
leaded spire. To the left of the porch and linked to it by a
string-course, a tall storeyed wing also with Flemish-style
gable; trefoil-section oriel with parapet and much moulded
corbelled base (with foliage and inscription frieze) supported
on large central buttress with set-offs flanked by 2-light
windows with transoms. Transomed and mullioned windows to side
elevations. The flanking ranges (containing the almshouses) with
a mixture of storeyed red brick wings (2 window front walls each
window under Flemish-style gables of different heights) with
transomed windows under flat arches, and canted bays; bays with
Flemish gables, and simple canted bays, all in yellow brick.
Porches with similar arched doorways to central block; shaped
ridge stacks, the shafts set at an angle to the bases. Rear with
low gable wings, the windows all renewed. Detached at rear is
a separate washroom/laundry with raised louvred ventilators.
Interior: the central block with open-well staircase; the Board
Room with robust hammer-beam roof; the internal walls with
alternate red and buff brick banding, the brickwork and fine
pointing of very high quality. The whole building is a good
example of vigorous, studiedly detailed, mid-Victorian C17
domestic revival architecture.

Listing NGR: TQ7418567778

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26377279

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)