Kingsley House and Hendre House, Monmouth


Kingsley House and Hendre House are a pair of 19th-century, semi-detached houses on the North Parade section of Monk Street in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The grade II listed houses were designed by noted Monmouth architect and builder George Vaughan Maddox, who also designed at least two of the twenty-four blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, including the Market Hall and the Monmouth Methodist Church. Hendre House should be distinguished from The Hendre, the estate of the Rolls family.

History and design

Kingsley House at 8 Monk Street and Hendre House at 10 Monk Street are a pair of early 19th-century, listed houses. The semi-detached houses together are in a three-storey building with a five-bay elevation. The exterior features a stucco finish and there is a hipped slate roof. The centre window bay of each of the three floors of the building is blocked. The windows on the ground floor are round-headed, and those on the uppermost floor are smaller than those on the ground and middle floors. The entrance to each house features a round-headed doorway with a six-paneled door and radiating fanlight.
Both dwellings were designed by George Vaughan Maddox, a Monmouth native who was an architect and builder. Maddox, who also designed Priory Street in Monmouth, resided at Kingsley House on nearby Monk Street during the time that Priory Street was planned and constructed. Not only was Maddox responsible for Priory Street and its Market Hall, which was completed in 1839, the prolific architect also designed a number of other notable buildings, including the Monmouth Methodist Church in St James Street, the Masonic Hall in Monk Street, and Oak House at 6 Monk Street. The Market Hall and the Monmouth Methodist Church are two of the twenty-four blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. Maddox also designed Croft-Y-Bwla for Thomas Dyke, a Monmouth grocer. George Maddox was the son of James Maddox, another Monmouth architect and builder, who died in Monmouth in 1820.
In 1934, Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire indicated that John James Furney resided at Kingsley House.
Kingsley House and Hendre House are both grade II listed buildings on the west side of the North Parade section of Monk Street. On 27 October 1965, both houses were listed. The Cadw Building ID Number for Kingsley House is 2275, and that for Hendre House is 85015. Hendre House should be distinguished from The Hendre, the childhood home of Charles Stewart Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited and aviation pioneer. The grade II* listed, Victorian country house at Llangattock-Vibon-Avel now functions as the clubhouse of the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club. George Vaughan Maddox also served as an architect and builder for The Hendre, performing the first of the expansions of the mansion that were commissioned by three generations of the Rolls family. Originally a hunting lodge, The Hendre underwent reconstruction of portions of its south wing in 1830, performed by Maddox for John Rolls, great-grandfather of Charles.