Description

WORCESTER

SO85SE LARK HILL ROAD
620-1/4/385 Woodside
22/05/54 Formerly Listed as:
PERRY WOOD ROAD
Woodside)

GV II

Villa, now offices. c1819-24 with later additions and
alterations. Stucco over brick with hipped slate roof; 3 stuccoed
off-centre rear and side stacks; painted ashlar porch. 2 storeys
on basement and with attics, 3 first-floor windows. Stucco
detailing (similar to main facades) includes plinth, plain
pilasters to centre and sides surmounted by plain frieze and
dentil cornice. Centre first-floor window is recessed. First
floor has 8/8 sashes, ground floor has tall 2/4 sashes, all in
plain reveals and with sills. Basement has replacement casement
windows. Central entrance, flight of 5 renewed steps to distyle
Doric porch with pilaster responds and entablature, bulbous
balusters at sides of upper step. Concealed attics. Garden
facade: 4 first-floor windows. First floor has 8/8 sashes; ground
floor has 2/2 sashes. Rear has 3 first-floor windows; first floor
has 8/8 sashes, ground floor has 2 tripartite windows with 8/8
between 2 sashes, and 2/4 between 2 sashes. Flight of steps to
central entrance in canted solid porch, 2-moulded-panel door and
cambered overlight with decorative glazing bars. To right return
a staircase window with 6/9 sash and radial glazing to head.
INTERIOR: retains many original features including plasterwork
and joinery; dogleg staircase with stick balusters and wreathed
handrail, carved tread ends. Archway to hall on acanthus corbels;
rear hall has Coalbrookdale tile floor. Main reception room to
ground floor has well embellished cornices with Neo-Classical
details; modillion cornice to room at rear. Ground floor rooms
have shutters to windows. Egg-and-dart frieze to first-floor
landing and some rooms. 4- and 6-panel doors in fluted surrounds.
Lightwell to landing. Marble Regency fireplace to first floor
with roundels; further fireplace c1900. Cellar has barrel-vaulted
ceiling.
HISTORIC NOTE: Francis Barnitt (d.1911), benefactor of St
Martin's Church, lived here with his family. The suburbs along
London Road, which include ose Hill, Lark Hill and Green Hill
(qqv), were developed from c1785 and advertised as houses 'with
ornamental and stucco walls' with views over the River Severn
towards the Malvern Hills. The Lark Hill development, c1819-24,
was originally intended to be more extensive with terraces and a
crescent.
Nos 38-50 (even) Lark Hill and Woodside,(qqv) form a good group
of villas.
(Worcestershire Historical Society Occasional Papers: Whitehead
D: Urban Renewal and Suburban Growth: The Shaping of Georgian
Worcs: 1989-: 41).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26669370

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.

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