The Deanery (20) Charlotte Street: A new perspective.

The design authorship of The Deanery (No.20 Charlotte Street Grade II Listed. NHLE: 1282382), No.19 Charlotte Street (Grade II Listed. NHLE: 1205033) and the Royal Colonnade (Grade II* Listed. NHLE: 1282279) will form a later blog entry. However, the terrace and the villas were built between 1825-1827 by builder Frederick Samson Thomas, whose biography can be found under the Builder’s tab.

The villas are first shown on Ashmead’s 1828 map of Bristol (below) and up until the late nineteenth century are shown as having identical footprints .

Although The Deanery (below, left) and No.19 Charlotte Street (below, right) still share some design similarities, they aren’t an exact match and amongst their most obvious differences is the treatment of their central projecting entrance bays.

However, the alterations to these principal elevations are the result of changes made before the mid-nineteenth century and this can be demonstrated through various artworks of the popular cityscape view afforded from Brandon Hill.

In contrast to many later views from Brandon Hill, the earliest print (extract above) which features The Deanery shows its entire front facade. Interestingly, this image shows the central bay comprising a pair of Ionic pillars, supporting an entablature and an open arcade. A recreation of this facade has been reproduced with some decoration borrowed from No.19 (below). The original design appears a lot more composed than its present, almost unfinished appearance.

The reasons behind this design and the later changes likely relates to taking advantage of  an area of open ground which separated the houses on the northern side of Charlotte Street (see Ashmead’s 1828 map). This element of The Deanery’s design appears to have been relatively short lived with the northern terrace infilled in c.1836. However, a review of the present floorplan of The Deanery suggests that the former pillars have been incorporated into a reconfigured interior and it would be interesting to see how this has been achieved.

In a slightly later view from Brandon Hill, The Deanery’s facade is only partially shown but at this time appears to have retained its first floor open arcade. However, No.19 Charlotte Street’s central bay is shown as projecting much further forward and may have already reflected its present appearance with a porch of ionic columns and entablature extends off of this projection. 

Accreditations:

1. Ashmead's 1828 map - https://maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition=
2. Images of No.19 Charlotte Street and The Deanery (No.20 Charlotte Street) - Google-Street
3. Reproduced original facade of The Deanery, T. Rumley, 2021, Google Sketch-up.
4. Middle print - View of Bristol from Brandon Hill, artist and engraver William Willis. Extract sourced/purchased from http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/25375, original print in author's own possession.  
5. Bottom print - View of Bristol from Brandon Hill, artist John Sayer, engraver George Hawkins. Extract sourced/purchased from http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/17072, original print in author's own possession.