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Kingston House
9 Kingston Road, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Kingston House in 2014
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The mansion that is now called Kingston House stands on the southern side of Kingston Road (formerly Mill Street), with a grand garden frontage facing the river on its southern side.
It has had various names- Mill Street House, Rivers House, Avon House and the prosaic Shop 55 of the Avon Rubber Company.
It seems to have begun as a small Palladian house in the early 18th century, with industrial premises alongside.
A house here was rated in 1727 and leased by John Smith who died in 1736 and the lease was occupied by Robert Knight and then sold to Rev John Rogers in 1744, In the 1790s it and Manvers House across the road, belonged to Thomas Bush and it was bought in 1841 by wool-dyer Charles Spackman. His children sold it in 1869 to the clothiers James Harper and Thomas Taylor, along with neighbouring New Mills.
After a very brief spell as a girls’ school the Spencer Moulton Rubber Company bought it in 1899 and used it as offices until the succeeding Avon Company abandoned it in 1992. During World War 2 it served as the headquarters of Bradford’s Local Defence Volunteers (the Home Guard).
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Fears over the integrity of the roof caused English Heritage to require that the owners, then Taywood Homes, protect the building and a roof was thrown over it. Fabric curtains on the scaffolding became tattered over the years of awaiting restoration.
The exterior was restored first, the interior waiting for restoration until after Linden Homes had sold it. It was intended to become offices for start-up companies, but in 2022 the eastern (19th century) side became the offices of Bradford on Avon Town Council and the restored western (18th century) side was put up for sale as a home for £1,250,000.
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The original building may be represented by this classic three-bay, three-storey house topped by a pediment, which fairly well follows the designs of Palladio, with rusticated basement, first floor emphasised as the piano nobile and an attic above.
The east wing, which is larger, may have begun as an 18th century workshop or warehouse connected with the cloth industry. Its current appearence may date from conversion of this part by lawyer George Spackman as his office and later refacing by James Harper in the mid-19th century.
In 1897 the house was advertised as the home of a new school for girls. The drawing shows the south façade with its garden in front. Only two years later the house was offices and the garden was soon to have rubber factories built over it. Miss Julia Blake became a teacher at the Technical School, later Fitzmaurice Grammar School.
The entrance front facing Kingston Road has only two storeys, as the basement does not show at the higher level of the street.
The street side carries the war memorial to the members of the Spencer Moulton Company who died in the two World Wars.
Despite years of neglect many of the interior features -wooden panelling, decorative plasterwork and doors- are still in place, but haven’t been restored. Cast-iron fire places have mostly been ripped out, but were probably of late date.
The main staircase is still in fairly good condition, with three fine barley sugar-twist balusters to each step. A plan for the house to become a facility for small start-up businesses has not happened