Building record MDO46873 - 14 Spring Gardens, Fortuneswell, Portland

A narrow, two-storey terraced house with an attic. It has a long, linear front garden which is enclosed by rubble stone walls. The house is rectangular on plan with a single-storey range to the rear which is not shown on the Tithe Map and was thus added after 1841. The exact date of construction is unknown but it is believed to be early 19th century. It is built of coursed, squared Portland stone with dressed quoins. The re-clad slate roof has raised coping and a brick stack to the left. The windows were replaced in the early 21st century. The principal (south east) elevation overlooks the front garden and has an entrance with a panelled timber door with top lights and a sixteen-pane sash window to the right. There is a matching wooden sash to the first floor and also in a roof dormer. The rear elevation is rendered. The rear single-storey range is also rendered; its roof is clad with stone slates.

Fortuneswell, which was originally known as Fortunes Well because it was established around a small watercourse, lies on steeply sloping land and is the principal settlement on Portland. No. 14 Spring Gardens forms part of a row of attached townhouses set back from the road. The exact date of construction is unknown but it is believed to be early 19th century. It is depicted on the 1841 Tithe Map, however, the adjacent house, No.16 is not present. Its footprint has not changed since its depiction on the 1892 First Edition Ordnance Survey map. The architect is unknown.

No. 14 is situated on the north side of Spring Gardens and is a narrow, two-storey building with attic. It has a long, linear front garden which is enclosed by rubble stone walls. The house is rectangular on plan with a single-storey range to the rear which is not shown on the Tithe Map and was thus added after 1841. It is built of coursed, squared Portland stone with dressed quoins. The re-clad slate roof has raised coping and a brick stack to the left. The windows were replaced in the early 21st century. The principal (south east) elevation overlooks the front garden and has an entrance with a panelled timber door with top lights and a sixteen-pane sash window to the right. There is a matching wooden sash to the first floor and also in a roof dormer. The rear elevation is rendered. The rear single-storey range is also rendered; its roof is clad with stone slates.

Internally, there are two rooms to the ground floor, accessed by a narrow hallway. There is a fireplace in the front room which has no surround, and the one in the rear room is blocked. A kitchen and a bathroom are located in the range to the rear. Some 19th century joinery survives: four-panelled doors, plank doors with strap hinges, timber room partitions, and the staircase which has chamfered newel posts and stick balusters. There are no principal trusses in the roof, which is supported by the party walls and single rows of purlins; an A-frame truss has been added as a further support.

The Principles of Selection as laid out in Circular 01/2007 states that for buildings which pre-date 1840 there is a presumption in favour of listing reasonably intact examples. The English Heritage Selection Guide for Domestic Buildings (2007) provides more detailed criteria, stating that houses surviving without alteration will probably warrant listing, although some discretion may be necessary for later standard designs. Considerations for assessment include age, rarity, intactness, quality of design and historic associations.

No. 14 Spring Gardens is a simply-designed house built of local materials to a modest scale. It retains its vernacular appearance. It is one of a much altered early-19th century row, but has the most complete facade. It has no group value, however, and is very similar in style and in the use of materials to other buildings of this date on Portland. The building has suffered from some slight alteration, with the loss of the original windows, for example, though it is acknowledged that great care has been taken to match the design of the replacement windows to the original ones. The interior which has undergone some alteration is simple and of standard quality for the period. Although some historic features survive such as the staircase and some other joinery, these are typical early-19th century designs. Unfortunately all but one of the fireplaces has been lost.

Modest vernacular buildings of this type and date would need to be more intact to warrant listing; this is not the case here and No. 14 Spring Gardens falls short of the standard required. That said the house has been sympathetically renovated and makes a positive contribution to the streetscape and the wider conservation area. On balance though, No. 14 Spring Gardens does not does not demonstrate the requisite level of special architectural or historic interest to merit designation in the national context. <1>

<1> English Heritage, English Heritage Listing File, Adviser's report on case 169523, in file 507907/001 (Scheduling record). SDO17502.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1517592 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 30 2024 11:02AM