Description

BELL STREET
1.
5253
(North Side)
No 11
(The Red House)
TL 4821 1488:3/19 6.6.52
II* GV
2.
Circa 1700, refronted 1720-30, rear extensions 1860-70. Elaborate red brick
house set back a little from the street. Old red tiled gabled roof and
internal gable chimneys. Front range 2 storeys and attics one room deep with
central entrance and stair. Timberframed wall divides from shorter central
rear range in English bond brickwork with semi-basement kitchen originally
with a low room over under a catslide continuation of the main roof and with
lateral chimney. Roof raised to create Victorian drawing room. Western
rooms extended to rear and single storey coach-house on E end built in later
C19. Symmetrical facade, 3 heavy pedimented dormers survive from earliest
phase with wooden mouldings of great projection. Middle pediment has
3-centred curve, outer ones triangular. Later wooden casements. Text book
example of 5 windows, Georgian front in red brick with gauged brick window
dressings, dentilled cornice, parapet, rusticated corner pilasters, moulded
band at floor level, and broad rusticated panel surrounding central flat
arched window. 6 panel door with central bead and raised and fielded
panels. 3 pane fanlight. Elegant wooden doorcase with fluted Ionic
pilasters and full entablature with swelled frieze, modillioned cornice and
segmental pediment. C18 boxed sashes a little recessed, with 6/6 panes.
Interior has c.1700 well stair rising through 2 storeys. Panelled string,
turned balusters and moulded handrail raking in cusp curves. Panelled W
room of same period on 1st floor with 2 panel door raised and fielded.
Similar panelling above and below moulded chair rail. Moulded cornice.
Fire surround with architrave, consoles and full entablature as shelf.
2 panel cupboard doors with 'H' hinges. Window recesses and reveals have
later ovolo moulded flat panelling. Wide 3-centred arch c.1860-70 with floral
impost leads into small extension with contemporary cornice, deep frieze and
2/2 sash window. 2 panel bolection moulded door with raised and fielded
panels to ground floor W room which has panelled dado and moulded cornice.
Wooden fire surround c.1790 with fluted pilasters and flattened drum caps.
Full entablature with relief ornament. Frieze has swags, urn on projections
over each pilaster, and central tablet with lyre, crossed musical instruments
and swags. Leaf bed mould. Shelf edge decorated. Yellow figured marble
slips and early C19 basket grate. 2 panel doors generally with plank doors
in attic rooms. Former basement kitchen has large blocked fireplace, shelf
on shaped brackets. Round headed cupboard to left with panelled door and
'H' hinges. 8/4 box sash windows with segmental arches and slightly
recessed box. Victorian drawing room has 2/2 recessed sashes with gauged
flat arches. Floral cornice with egg and dart moulding and cove. Simple
marble fire surround. Date '1875' said to be carved on tie beam in red
brick and slate roofed single storey coach-house on E. Red brick walls
flank front court closed by wood fence of 6 posts with square urn finials,
linked by simple picket and rail panels over dwarf wall, probably to
original pattern.

House and interior extensively illustrated by Nathaniel Lloyd in his A
History of English Brickwork (1928) p307, and The History of the English
House (1931) p242 (front), p339 (dormers) and p460 (staircase).

Listing NGR: TL4820714883

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553621

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

• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)