Monument record 3884/0/235 - Redcliffe, 51 Hatton Park Road

Redcliffe was built in the interwar period for the Bull family. Latterly used as an NHS clinic. Now demolished.

{1} Reasons for currently not Listing the Building
Introduction/Context: English Heritage has been asked to assess Redcliffe for listing. There is a live planning application for the demolition of the house and its replacement with five dwellings. Redcliffe is located in Hatton Park which has been identified by Wellingborough Borough Council as an Area of Special Interest.

History/Details: Redcliffe was probably built in the interwar period. It was the home of the Bulls, a well known local family who owned Bull and Wolfson Grain Merchants in Wellingborough. The architect of the house is not known but it appears to have been constructed of good quality materials. Redcliffe was subsequently used as a nurses’ home and then as an NHS clinic.

Redcliffe is a large, L-shaped house in an eclectic vernacular style. It is constructed of red brick under a hipped roof clad in plain clay tiles, and has two storeys and an attic. The principal elevation has a centrally placed wide classical entrance canopy, to the right of which is a multi-pane canted bay window with timber mullions and transoms, and to the left two casement windows in a similar style. The first floor is rendered to form decorative panels, and is lit by four irregularly spaced windows in the same style. There are three flat-headed dormer windows wholly in the roof space, the central one surmounted by a small triangular pediment. The only internal photograph available shows a large ballroom with classical detailing, including a pair of columns and a decorative cornice.

Criteria/Assessment: The Listing Selection Guide for assessing Suburban and Country Houses (English Heritage, April 2011) outlines how from the 1840s onwards, good quality substantial detached villas designed by established local architects proliferated on villa estates located on the edge of flourishing cities. Stylistic eclecticism was established for good by this time, but by the early C20 a more restrained style characterised suburban houses and villas. Such houses survive in very large numbers, and they will need to be carefully assessed for listing against the normal selection criteria: age and rarity, intactness, quality of design, materials, craftsmanship, and historic associations.

On the basis of the evidence to hand Redcliffe is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: despite some interesting decorative elements and the use of good quality building materials, the house is architecturally typical of its time and does not demonstrate the inventiveness and fine detailing exemplified by the best examples of the period;

* Interior: other than the ballroom, which is also stylistically typical, the quality and intactness of the interior is unknown. Its use as a nurses’ home and then as an NHS clinic is likely to have involved the removal of some original features and to have obscured the earlier plan form.

Conclusion: Whilst Redcliife may be of local architectural interest as a good quality inter-war house, it does not have special architectural and historic interest from a national perspective and should not be added to the statutory List.

<1> English Heritage, Designation Advice Report, 51 Hatton Park Road, Wellingborough, NN8 5AH (Report). SNN113190.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2025 7:17PM