3 bedroom end of terrace house

A Grade II listed town house arranged over 2197 sqft and across four floors, situated in the historic Old Town Conservation Area of Aylesbury. Located 0.2 miles to Aylesbury train station and town centre.

Property Details

Our client says about the property:

The old town stands on a small hill in the
Vale of Aylesbury. 27 Rickfords Hill is
within the Central Conservation Area and
is a Grade 2 Listed building on the site of
the Franciscan priory constructed in the
14thC. The stone basement walls that
formed part of the priory are still present
behind the basement tanking. During the
Civil War the superstructure was
demolished to be used as fortifications
and similar stonework can be seen above
ground in Friarage Passage. The buildings
that can now be seen were constructed
in the early 18thC. Bay windows, in the
prevailing style, were added in the 19thC
at the rear and substantial internal
modifications, including turning the
staircases round, were carried out by the
architect George Devey who constructed
extensive works on the Rothschild
estates. His characteristic details can be
identified in number 27.
We bought the property in 1975, initially
as an office for the architectural practice,
and took great care to preserve its
historic features. With retirement in
prospect we returned the building to a
house to take advantage of the easy
access to the shops and railway station.
We aimed to carry out the works in
character. Except in the living room all
the fireplaces remained. That in the
living room had been replaced between
the wars with a mantle piece from the
Head Gaoler's sitting room. The then
occupant was the Clerk to the County
Council, William Crouch. He wrote his life
story in 1927 and we published it, with
his family's assistance in 2010. We
replaced the wood and papier mache
fireplace surround with a Carrera marble
surround with a traditional overmantle
mirror that followed the same details as
the old shutters and which we repeated
in the fitted cupboards and shelves.

As we had young grandchildren we
removed all paintwork back to bare wood
and had the doors stripped to avoid any
danger from old lead paint. Together
with stripping the walls this exposed the
archaeology of the house and enabled us
to select colour schemes that had been
used in the past. As would have been the
case, woodwork was painted with dead
flat oil paint. Modern bright white was
never used simply because the titanium
pigments didn't exist. We replaced the
door furniture with cast brass latches and
knobs. Cast iron was used in the
basement where the servants wouldn't
have had the luxury of brass! Another
nod to the past is the manual cable
operated front door bell.
The biggest task was the basement. We
removed the lath and plaster ceilings and
had the exposed timber beams treated.
Although it had served as a paper store
for many years we decided to have a
complete tanking system installed and
over-clad with bleached and limed pine
with Victorian mouldings. We were
fortunate enough to have a very
accomplished carpenter living across the
road who took on the various fittings in
the house, cupboards and shelves as well
as the basement cladding and kitchen
cupboards. The details around corners
and openings bear tribute to his skill in
matching the profiles of the boarding
with the custom made sections he
prepared. Lighting roses and switches on
the upper floors were replaced with
traditional brass and mahogany fittings
and radiators replaced with Victorian
replicas.
We now hope to find an equally
interesting house in Kendal where some
of our family have settled.
Malcolm and Mary Nickolls
June 2022
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