18th Century Dooways in Baldock
Written by Bruce Moss
Illustrated by Garth Denning
A Baldock Society Publication

INTRODUCTION

With its inspiration springing from the 16th century Palladian vilia, the 18th century house relied for its appeal mainly upon its form and proportion.

To add a discreet touch of flamboyance, great attention was given to the treatment of the front doorway as the focal point of the exterior. For the Georgian gentility with insufficient wealth to build new, but with a desire to emmulate the accepted style of the period, similar treatment to the frontages of older properties created the impression of affluence with new classical facades.

Thus, in small market towns like Baldock, whose greatest period of wealth coincided with the 18th century building boom, besides the complete Georgian houses, many Georgian facades are to be found on earlier buildings with their front doorways as their most prominent feature.

Of the million or so examples of Georgian houses extant today, Baldock appears to have more than its fair share. That this could be attributed to the results of past neglect rather than past conservation is our good fortune, since the town has escaped any severe 19th century rebuilding, with little Victorian Domestic architecture in evidence except a particularly fine Rectory by Butterworth.

Baldock‘s four main streets radiate from the central focus of its 12th century Parish Church, directed towards the four cardinal points. To the South and East, the High Street and Whitehorse Street are classically 18th century in character with a series of Georgian facades and individual houses of particular architectural merit. The broad width of these streets emphasises the Palladian feeling of space and balance in the buildings. To the North, Church Street embraces much of the town’s earlier architecture together with an interesting row of late 18th century cottages opposite the Church and a fine early 18th century facade at ‘St. Marys’. Hitchin Street to the West contains several Victorian houses including the Butterfield Rectory, some excellent early timbered properties, some Georgianised; others not, and 18th century houses ranging from modest to grand.

With such a concentration of 18th century frontages in Baldock, the variety to be found in the front doorways embraces the whole 18th century. There are Queen Anne period canopies, differing pediments, pillars and pilasters of the classical orders, intricate frieze carving and a host of designs of fan light tracery.

Here in the following pages we try to show this variety through a series of illustrations and descriptions of different doorways in the town. There are many others, besides, of obvious merit, worth searching out and admiring, but here is a basis for those less familiar with this unexpectedly exciting Hertfordshire market town.