12 Hope Drive

One of a group of eight similar semi-detached and terraced houses built c1888-90, possibly for Frederick Messom. Area had been previously used, since the beginning of the 19c, for garden allotments known as Fishpond Gardens. In single household use. Three storeys including attic space with rear wing plus outbuilding / privy in rear garden area. No significant extensions to the original building. Red brick facades with facings on front elevation plus chimney stacks and commons elsewhere. Two storey canted window bay with hipped tiled roof on front facade and gabled dormer above. Corbelled brick / terracotta detailing at eaves and gable verges with moulded brick string course at storey height level and recessed brick panels under sills on canted bay. Lancet arched heads to main entrance porch plus first floor and gabled dormer windows on front facade with brick voussoirs and hoodmoulds. Stone dressings to door and window openings on front facade including keystones and imposts to arched openings plus lintels and sills. The stonework has now been painted.
Saddleback roof with plain tiles and decorative, perforated ridge tiles. Originally, brick chimney stacks with string course and corbelled red and blue brick caps plus buff ‘crown’ pots. Stacks now partly altered. Original sash windows replaced or altered. Original six panelled partly glazed main entrance door. Original cast iron rainwater fittings replaced and further
downpipes and waste pipes added. Small rear garden area with boundary wall adjacent to rear gardens of houses on Hamilton Drive. Original brick boundary wall with gate piers and stone caps to front garden area adjacent to Hope Drive.