Description

GLOUCESTER

SO81NW DENMARK ROAD
844-1/3/105 (South side)
12/03/73 Hillfield House
(Formerly Listed as:
LONDON ROAD
(North side)
Hillfield House)

II

Large house, now local government offices. c1867. By John
Giles. Built by Albert Estcourt, master builder, for Charles
Walker, timber merchant. Brick with the principal facades
faced in ashlar; low pitched, hipped slate roofs, stone
stacks.
PLAN: a large block with a central, top-lit atrium which
provides access to the principal rooms; the main doorway, on
the east side under a tall, square tower, is entered from a
porte cochere; at the rear, on the north side of a service
yard, a long wing projects from the main block.
EXTERIOR: two storeys and cellar, four storey tower. The
entrance front asymmetrical with the porte cochere and tower
slightly off-centre and the tower and a short wing to left
projecting from the main alignment; plinth, moulded string at
ground-floor sill level, entablature at first-floor level,
band at first-floor sill level and crowning entablature;
raised quoins at the corners of the left hand wing; the
entablature of the porte cochere is supported at the corners
by slender square piers flanked by columns-in-antis on
pedestals, all with foliated capitals, roof balcony above with
a balustrade of turned balusters between corner piers; behind
the porte cochere quoin strips at the corners of the ground
floor of the tower, and the entrance doorway with fanlight in
an arched opening with architrave frame and raised keystone,
two-leaf, fielded panel doors.
On the ground floor tall arched sashes: a pair of sashes to
right of the tower, a single sash further right and to left of
the tower, two sashes to the front of the left hand wing, all
in openings with foliated impost capitals and moulded arches
with raised, foliated keystones; a smaller sash to each side
of the tower in similar openings. On the first floor the same
pattern of fenestration in openings similar to the ground
floor except for the two sashes to the front of the wing in
openings with architraves and cornices on console brackets. On
the first floor of the tower a pair of arched sashes and on
the second floor three arched lancet windows; the third floor

contains a prospect viewing chamber: triplets of three tall
arched sashes in each face set in arcades with a continuous
moulded impost, moulded arches with raised keystones; on each
face a balcony with turned balusters between solid piers and
supported on brackets; the crowning cornice is supported on
closely set, moulded brackets; the low pitched pyramidal roof
is crowned by a decorative wrought-iron finial.
The garden front facing south is symmetrical with three
central bays flanked by short wings two bays wide linked by a
single storey three-bay arcaded loggia with columns on
pedestals, foliated capitals, moulded archivolts with raised
bracket keystones and foliated spandrels; on the ground floor
a short projection on the front of both wings each with a pair
of arched sashes in two-bay arcaded openings with details
similar to the loggia; the crowning entablature on the
projections is returned onto the fronts of the wings and the
cornice and frieze continues above the loggia; crowning
modillion cornice to the second storey; raised quoins to the
corners of the wings; on the second-floor sashes in openings
with architrave surrounds and cornices on console brackets;
across the width of the front a terrace approached by a
central flight of steps.
The north side of the main block and the rear wing is faced in
brick, sashes on both floors mostly in openings with segmental
arches.
INTERIOR: entrance lobby leading into a richly decorated,
central, full height, top-lit atrium with cantilevered balcony
on all sides at first-floor level; the atrium entered through
a three-bay colonnade of columns with foliated capitals and
moulded arches, on the other walls at ground--floor level and
the walls at first-floor level applied arcades with panelled
pilasters with foliated capitals and semicircular moulded
arches, and crowning entablature, the panels of the pilasters
at first-floor level are carved with drops of fruit and
flowers; the entry to the staircase is through the central
archway in the three-bay arcade in end wall opposite the
entrance; dog-leg staircase with stone steps and balustrade
with square, panelled newel and bulbous balusters opens onto
the atrium balcony which has an elaborate wrought-iron
balustrade supported on carved stone brackets on each side; in
the arches of the arcade bays infilled doorways to the
principal rooms on both levels richly carved tympana, and in
the spandrels carved roundels; in the stair well two
semicircular arched moulded stone windows with richly coloured
stained glass; other rooms not inspected but believed to
contain contemporary fittings.
HISTORY: the house had extensive grounds which are now a
public park (Hillfield Rest Garden). Originally the building

was approached through Entrance Gates in London Road (qv).
A good example of a mid C19 villa, particularly notable for
its fine interior.

Listing NGR: SO8426519067

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Hillfield House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26561590

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)