NHER 64882 (Building record) - The Nunnery, Denmark Street

June 2016. Building Survey.
Historic building assessment produced as part of proposal to redevelop this former nursing home and the land to the rear.
This is an attractive brick-built house that incorporates an earlier, two-storey building to the north-east, which is set back from the road, behind a tall brick wall. This earlier building is probably mid to late 18th century in date and was presumably originally a small farmhouse or similar. Beams are exposed on both floors but a single vertical timber support on the first floor is the only evidence that it was originally timber framed. The exposed beams are of relatively small dimensions with simple chamfers. It has a steeply pitched roof, suggesting that it may have originally been thatched.
The main house on the street frontage was probably built during the mid 19th-century, with the earlier dwelling apparently subsumed into this new structure at this time (as demonstrated by the inclusion of brick pilasters with simple stone capitals on both buildings). The façade of the main building is notably asymmetrical, with the four brick pilasters dividing it into three bays of differing width. The fenestration is also unusual - particular in the central bay, where the three first floor windows are all of different size. A projecting porch surmounted by a triangular pediment with dentils was probably added during the late 19th century (its plain brick parapet hiding the lower section of the first floor window above). The rear elevation is more elaborate than much of the street frontage and it is possible that elements were added around the same time as the porch. There are two projections designed to afford views of The Mere. The first is a single-storey five-sided extension with a decorative brick parapet. The section is a two-storey five-sided extension that appears to be a later addition, lacking rubbed brick arches and containing plain, modern windows. These projections are linked by a semi-circular brick structure containing an elegant staircase of similar shape.
The remainder of the rear elevation is largely obscured by a flat-roofed, single-storey extension of later 20th-century date. This is unsightly and of no architectural interest.
Due to the previous modernisation of this building and its conversion into a care home there is very little of architectural or historic interest remaining internally. The staircase on the ground floor does however appear to be contemporary with the main house.
Overall this building is not deemed to be of special architectural or historic interest (which is presumably why it was not listed).
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2021.

October 2017-2018.
The conversion of this building back to residential use and the redevelopment of the land to the rear saw the demolition of the large single-storey 20th-century extension. The more recent of the two earlier, five-sided extensions to the rear of the house was also removed, as was the adjoining semi-circular structure.
See pictures in (S2).
P. Watkins (HES), 27 April 2021.