Description

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE PROMENADE
630-1/13/754 (North West side)
12/03/55 Nos.121 AND 123
and attached railings

GV II*

Pair of semi-detached villas, now offices and attached
railings. c1834-40 (shown as laid out on Merrett's Map of
1834). Possibly designed by John Forbes. Ashlar over brick
with concealed roof and central and end brick and stucco
stacks; iron balcony.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attic and basement, 8 first-floor
windows arranged 1:1:4:1:1. Double depth plan with outer side
hallways. End and central breakforwards, ends have
Composite-type pilasters through ground and first floors
surmounted by continuous entablature; central 6-window range
has ground-floor horizontal rustication, drawn into voussoirs
over central 4 windows and with first-floor band. Outer
windows have tooled architraves, those to ground floor have
cambered heads and cornices on console brackets, those to
first floor are eared. Central 4 first-floor windows have
tooled architraves and cornices, otherwise first-floor windows
have panels over. Outer windows to ground floor are tripartite
6/6 between 2/2 sashes, those to first floor are 6/6 with
margin-lights; otherwise 6/6 sashes, taller to ground floor,
and those to centre, ground floor in wider elliptically-arched
recesses. Attic has two tripartite windows with mainly 2/2
sashes and casements. Basement has 6/6 and 8/8 sashes. Outer
entrances, double 4-panel doors with overlights with lozenge
glazing bars and margin-lights within pilastered doorcases.
Rear: 5 Doric pilasters through ground and first floors, to
ends and between pairs of windows surmounted by continuous
crowning entablature. 6/6 sashes, taller to ground floor; 3/3
sashes to attic.
INTERIOR: retains original plasterwork including acanthus
cornice and anthemion ceiling frieze to ground-floor front
room, ceiling roses; dogleg staircase has iron balusters,
alternately embellished and stick balusters. Some marble
fireplaces. Original joinery includes 4-panel doors and
panelled shutters to windows.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: continuous balcony, probably by
Marshalls, has embellished scrolled heart motif derived from
LN Cottingham. Railings to sides of steps are alternately
embellished and sticks.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Forbes acquired the plot of No.129 Promenade

(qv) in 1833. The Promenade was laid out in 1818 as a
tree-lined avenue to the Sherborne Spa (on the site of the
Queen's Hotel (qv)) from the Colonnade on the High Street, by
1826 it was a carriage drive with spacious gravelled walk on
each side. Buildings on the NW side were the first to be
developed.
Nos 121 and 123 form a distinguished group of semi-detached
villas with Nos 125 and 127 (qv) and 129 and 131 (qv)
Promenade, which with No.133 (qv) and The Queen's Hotel (qv)
overlook Imperial Gardens.
(The Buildings of England: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale
and The Forest of Dean: London: 1970-: 146; Williams GA: Guide
Book to Cheltenham: 1824-: 29; Chatwin A: Cheltenham's
Ornamental Ironwork: Cheltenham: 1975-1984: 29,40; Merrett HS:
Plan of the Town of Cheltenham: 1834-; Blake S: 'The
Unfortunate Mr Forbes': Cheltenham Local History Society
Journal: 1989-: 7-27).

Listing NGR: SO9461222114

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535674

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]