yeomanry house, reading
yeomanry house was built between 1802 and 1810 as castle hill house, a grade II listed georgian villa set in a 17-acre estate for one of reading's wealthy families. in two centuries it has been a gentleman's residence, a preparatory school, a base for the berkshire yeomanry and, from 1968, the town's register office.
institutional use took its toll: grand rooms subdivided, features lost and fabric left to decay. for mccarthy properties, working with archway heritage and reading borough council, we've designed eight new homes (three houses and five flats) that restore the building's original identity as a high-status home.
back to what it was built for.
a historic building is best protected by a use that suits it. as homes, yeomanry house will be lived in and looked after continuously, rather than waiting between institutional tenants. its room sizes and window positions were made for domestic life, so far less of its historic fabric has to change to make the new use work.
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restoring the villa
the proposals include repairing the stucco (smooth render) front, repointing brickwork in lime mortar, and refurbishing the historic windows, doors, shutters and principal staircase. the external fire escape, air-conditioning units and redundant pipework would all be removed.
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following the phases
the house grew in five distinct phases. our layout follows them, so the new homes divide where the building's own history allows, and the grand principal rooms keep their proportions, cornices and plasterwork.
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where the name comes from
during the first world war, the house was home to the berkshire yeomanry's b squadron, whose trooper potts was awarded the victoria cross. the yeomanry stayed until 1967, and the name has stayed with the house ever since.
