Description

BRIDGWATER

ST2936NE BLAKE STREET
736-1/11/11 (East side)
16/12/74 No.3
and attached wall to the rear

GV II

House, now offices. C17; remodelled and rebuilt in late
C18/early C19; late C19 rear left wing, with gable of same
date added to left of front. English-bond brick with some
rubblestone to the base, stone coping, moulded kneelers and
bands to forward-facing gable, stone cills, pantile roof with
brick stacks to left and rear gable ends and stack with
moulded brick cornice to the centre ridge. Double-depth plan
with late C19 rear left wing.
3 storeys; 4-window range. The exterior walls of the original
C17 house are still apparent well inside the C19 building. The
late C19 forward-facing gable to the 2 left-hand ranges has 2
slits in the apex between stone bands. Windows to upper floors
have flat brick arches to large 6/6-pane sash windows. The
6-panel door with C20 hood to left of centre has a late C19
single-storey canted bay with margin panes to the far left and
two C20 casement windows to the right.
The left return is Flemish-bond brick. 2 storeys; 3-window
range. 6/6-pane sash windows, those to left are tripartite and
those to the first floor pass through the eaves line to form
late C19 gabled half-dormers lighting the hammer-beam roof
inside.
The rear has a late C19 two-storey canted bay with 4/4-pane
sash windows with margin panes to the ground floor which has
restored rendering and cornice; the first floor is C20
weatherboarded with a 9/9-pane sash window to front and
vertical 4/6-pane sashes to sides. To right is a
semi-elliptical arch to the service area with 6/6-pane sash
window above.
The right return of the rear wing, clad with painted
corrugated iron, has coloured glass to an early C19
semicircular-arched stair window and a single-storey lean-to
with a pantile roof and a wide horizontal sash window. The
lean-to and the courtyard are stone-flagged.
INTERIOR: the exterior walls of the C17 building are
distinguishable from those of the C19 by their thickness. The
corner of the original building inside the semi-basement to
the front left now serves as an interior wall; painted
rubblestone with stone plinth capping. This basement also has
a repositioned planked and studded door, a C18 door with 4
raised-and-fielded panels, some stone flags and 2 segmental
arches to former open fires, that to right framed with early
C19 cast-iron panels with anthemion motifs.
An early C19 stair hall with staircase was added to the right
return and at each landing a semicircular-arched opening has
been cut into the thick former outer wall to give access to
the C17 newel stair inside. This is in the former front right
corner and has a low mid C19 dado rail with panels below, some
raised and fielded. Between the first and second floors is a
blocked door into the adjacent museum; at this level a
semicircular arch made from thin wood with moulded pilasters
spans the stairs; just below to right, a jib door, now fixed,
cut through the dado and panelling, leads in the same
direction.
At the top of the newel stairs a heavy planked and studded
door with diagonal planks to the back and bar stops to the
Tudor-arched moulded architrave, opens into a room with wide
oak floorboards and a cupboard with raised-and-fielded panels
and H hinges. A locked door leads to the attic (unseen). The
late C19 rear wing has an elaborate hammer-beam roof on stone
corbels to the second floor and splayed panelled reveals to
the first-floor windows.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a high brick wall to the rear right
sweeps up to meet the first floor of the Admiral Blake Museum
(qv) and encloses the rear service yard.

Listing NGR: ST2999536917

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26584787

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)