271 Westgate Road

Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition as Westgate Hill House {1}. The building was put forward for listing in 2007 but was not added to the list because the town house has been extended and has undergone significant internal modification. As a late Georgian building with some original features, it is of local interest, and has value as part of the late Georgian and Victorian residential suburb which is a Conservation Area. Circa 1820. The house is constructed in English garden wall bond with a hipped roof of slate and two ridge chimney stacks. Elevations are plain with wedge lintels, stone cills and eaves cornices. The south facing garden elevation has three storeys with basement and three original bays. A three-storey extension of red brick was added to the east side of the house in the mid C20. The central ground floor window has been modified to create a C20 fire door and a fire escape with metal balconies is attached to the wall. The original main entrance to the house is now blocked by the new extension. The probable original door surround has been moved onto the north elevation. The window frames are modern. The house has been converted into a hotel and hostel which has caused significant alterations. There is some original wood (shutters, six-panelled doors, surrounds and reveals) and plasterwork cornices. The best features are the original open string staircase with decorated brackets and the first floor landing with the entrance to the principal room (now blocked) defined by a plaster entablature carried by plaster Doric columns. No original fireplaces survive. In 1879 the occupant was Edward Bilton, 1886 William Andrew I'Anson a surgeon. Although I'Anson died in 1881 the name in linked with the house into the 1920s.