Description

WESTON PARK WEST
656-1/13/2495 Vale Lodge
16.3.2005
GV II

A large suburban villa with Tudor and Gothic architectural detailing, built in 1858 to a design by local architect Charles Henry Gabriel, standing on the west side of a small common in the centre of Weston Park, a mid-to-late Victorian development at the edge of Bath city centre characterised by large villas set in spacious grounds with mature trees. Vale Lodge is built in Bath limestone with a triple Roman tile roof, with two large external stacks to the south - and north elevations. It has an L-shaped plan.

EXTERIOR: The east elevation is two bays wide, with a main entrance bay to its right, slightly set back and forming part of a cross-wing. The entrance, with steps rising to it, has a pointed arched doorway, with a four light transom and mullion window (with uPVC frames) and a three light window above rising into a gable on the cross-wing. To the far left, the east elevation has a two storey canted bay with tiled roof and one over one sash windows, paired in the middle. The two floors above have four- and three-light windows with metal frames. To its right is a cross mullion window (uPVC frames) on the ground floor, with a single casement window (plastic replacement window frames, late 1980s) to its right and a triple casement (metal framed) window above. The roof has two gabled dormers.

The garden elevation to the south is three bays wide with to the left a three storey projecting bay capped with a six faced turret roof. The latter starts with a straight bay on the ground floor with a four light mullion and transom window with central king mullion (uPVC frames), becoming a canted bay on the floors above. To its right, rising above a late-C20 terrace on top of a former garage (now part of the basement flat and probably replacing a former conservatory, as suggested by the OS of 1888), is a tall external stack rising to four cylindrical flues with a small trefoil below its base. On either side of the stack are single- and two-light windows, with a late-C20 dormer in the roof to its left.

The entrance hall on the north elevation has a cat slide roof, with a narrow transom and mullion window, and a four light transom and mullion to its right. Above the entrance hall extends a tall external stack with on second floor level to its right a four light bay window clad in timber with a tall timber framed dormer with a three light window above. The far north gable end of the cross wing has a two-light transom and mullion on second floor level.

INTERIOR: The interior of flat no. 1 has a series of original C19 features, including a decorative, diagonally planked door, a narrow window with fleur-de-lys detail, and a polychromatic and geometricically patterned tiled floor in the entrance hall, tall pointed arches marking the corridor, entrance hall and former stairwell. Original door frames and skirting boards throughout, and in the first floor bedroom to the east, decorative wood panelled framing to the bay window and plaster cornices.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Marking the (former) main entrance along Weston Park West, is a set of decorative stone gate piers.

HISTORY: Charles Henry Gabriel built Vale Lodge for himself and lived there until c. 1900. By 1888 (1st edn OS), the villa stood in the west part of a triangular shaped garden with a circular walk. From the entrance along the road a drive lead to the east front of the house, and to some small outbuildings (possibly a coach house) circa 100m north of the villa. In the late C20 these outbuildings were demolished and replaced with a private dwelling set in its own garden, called The Coach House. In the late 1980s Vale Lodge was sub-divided into five flats, with the garden sub-divided accordingly.

SOURCES: M. Forsyth, Pevsner Architectural Guides - Bath (2003), pp 295-296.
G Schuch, `Weston Estates in the 19th Century - A history of the development of the estates of major houses in Weston in the 19th century', 1997 (unpublished research paper).
Ordnance Survey, 1st edition, published 1888.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Vale Lodge, Weston Park West in Bath is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Vale Lodge is a good example of a large Victorian villa displaying good quality architectural detailing and design.

* Despite later alterations and its sub-division into flats, the standard of its overall design and surviving features outweigh this relative loss.

* Vale Lodge makes a very positive contribution to the architectural and historic interest of the adjacent villas, many of which are listed, and to the Victorian suburban development of Weston Park as a whole.

Listing NGR: ST7338266068

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26688978

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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