Truro Conservation Area Appraisal 6: Areas of distinct character within the Conservation Area Colchester Villas is a fine example of the 6: 19th century town villas: the leafy flamboyance of the buildings in this suburbs Character Area. Architectural features This Character Area includes three (loggias, verandas, ornate window and geographically distinctive areas of large, door surrounds, ornately gabled ostentatious late 19th and early 20th dormers above shallow bays that century urban show houses. Most have themselves have robust bay windows, fairly extensive gardens, even grounds, end towers with steeply sloping and and many are still maintained in the style shimmering slate château-like roofing) established in the Victorian and are piled on top of each other in an Edwardian periods. almost unbearable way and yet by a. The Avenue and Agar Road to the maintaining a rigorous symmetry the north building retains a coherence and unity. Truro High School at the top of b. The Crescent and a group on Chapel Falmouth Road shares the same large- Hill to the west scale, grandiose ostentation as these c. The upper part of Falmouth Road to villas. the south. Due to change of use, there is pressure The villas are found both on quiet to convert originally soft landscaped residential roads (indeed even on an front gardens into hard standings for car unadopted road in the case of The parking and this loss of the once Avenue) and on busy approach routes softening influence of the garden such as Falmouth Road and Chapel Hill. landscaping has made the robust They are generally set back from the Victorian mock gothic even more over- roadside, sitting deep within their plots powering. The sheer scale of the and so displaying extensive front buildings and their ornate and often gardens. Many have tree and shrub heavy architectural detailing is planting that partly obscures views to impressively overwhelming. Most of the the house, but the glimpses that are houses are of well-dressed stone, with caught satisfy passers-by that these are some use of stucco, but all of these houses intended to be admired as well as buildings utilise high quality materials. to provide comfortable living. The Elsewhere, buildings are on a slightly planting nevertheless provides the more modest scale than those on houses with a degree of privacy not Falmouth Road but still share the same often seen elsewhere in the city. The grandeur and quality. Their gardens are mature trees and shrubs of the gardens also often a little smaller. also provide a sense of solidity and longevity to the area; they take one back Issues, opportunities and to images of comfort maintained by recommendations servants and families such as are encountered in the works of E Nesbit. Guard against piecemeal incremental loss The upper part of Falmouth Road is • As elsewhere in the Conservation dominated by a series of large later 19th Area these buildings are vulnerable to and early 20th century villas, perhaps the incremental loss of detail and most ostentatious within this Character therefore character. Piecemeal Area. Originally residential, some of alterations, removals, and accretions these buildings have since been are gradually damaging the historic converted to hotel and guesthouse use, fabric and diluting the historic subdivided into flats and apartments and character of the area. These include used as offices for private businesses. the loss of original roof and wall 89 July 2005 and updated March 2010 Truro Conservation Area Appraisal 6: Areas of distinct character within the Conservation Area coverings, windows, doors and other schemes initiated with regard to the detailing, as well as enclosing railings, characteristic species common to the walls etc. The Article 4(2) direction area. proposed in Section 8 of this Appraisal will help ensure that such Enhance the public realm details and richness are not lost but • Historic streetscape features, such as retained. the distinctive paving, locally manufactured cast iron gutters and Mitigate the erosion of character caused railings etc, should be respected and by change of use maintained. • Pressures for change of use in this area have already affected the • New public realm elements should character of the buildings. Although respect the residential nature of the change of use is often inevitable, area, its character and quality. care, sensitivity and skill is required to minimise the impact on the character of the buildings and their settings. In particular the impact of parking on the grounds of these houses should be minimised by good use of soft landscaping and subtle choice of surface materials. Mitigate the negative impact of infill Falmouth Road, villas set behind front development gardens. Planting and mature trees are An issue within the Character Area is im portant character features the subdivision of these large plots, and the development of infill and additional structures in the former gardens of these grand houses. This is particularly relevant given the perceived pressure on such spaces stimulated by government guidance for brownfield development and increasing densities in urban areas, as for example in PPG3 issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Such developments should be resisted The architectural flamboyance of where possible as the size of plots, Colchester Villas, Falmouth Road planting in gardens and general space and scale of these areas are very fundamental elements of the significant character of the area. Recognise and respect the importance of mature trees within this area and wider cityscapes • The mature trees and shrubs that are characteristic features of this Character Area are important both in their immediate setting and in wider cityscape views. Mature trees should The Avenue be maintained and replanting 90 July 2005 and updated March 2010 Truro Conservation Area Appraisal 7: Issues and opportunities for enhancing Truro’s Conservation Area 7 Issues and The Truro Urban Design Strategy identified seven major areas of opportunities for opportunity for future beneficial change enhancing Truro’s in the city, with associated actions for Conservation Area further development. Several of the themes highlighted have implications for the Conservation Area and these are A number of specific local issues are outlined below; additional comments identified in the foregoing section on the reflect the particular perspective of the Conservation Area’s component Conservation Area and historic Character Areas. This section identifies environment. opportunities arising from those issues, Theme 1: the waterfront from the Urban Design Strategy and The waterfront is a major underused more widely from the resource asset in the city centre and could be represented by Truro’s Conservation utilised to further distinguish Truro as a Area. place to visit. It is at present blighted by In the wider context, as Cornwall’s the A39 Morlaix Avenue dual county town, Truro has much expected carriageway that severs it from the of it in terms of its commercial, centre. The Strategy proposes a number economic and administrative role, as of interventions in the area which could well as in terms of its symbolic transform it into a new focus of activity significance as the county’s only city and and a major asset to the city. centre of the Truro diocese. At the same Recognition of the waterfront as a time, the city is facing significant potential asset is welcome but it is development pressures. These arise important to recognise that the area’s from commercial expansion, particularly attraction and future potential in the retail sector, enhanced leisure significance lies substantially in the provision including a developing distinctive fabric of quays and associated evening economy, increased buildings, the historic topography, views accommodation and affordable across open water and the sense of accommodation demands, office bustle and activity associated with provision and related traffic marine activities. The surviving historic management measures. Incremental fabric in this area contributes a change is ongoing with individual sites substantial element to its authenticity as being developed constantly. However an historic place, differentiating it from several large-scale redevelopment ‘anywhere’ waterside developments in projects have been identified and more many other cities and towns. Surviving are likely in the future. Such schemes historic buildings and structures should have the potential to change the city therefore be maintained as far as radically and rapidly unless carefully possible in further redevelopment and planned and designed with a should provide the basis of neighbourly attitude to the rest of the characterisation to inform future design. city and their immediate surroundings. The proposal for a new ‘landmark’ Some of these developments are within building on Town Quay, for example, either the existing Conservation Area, or site of the harbour office, should be within extensions proposed in this weighed against the fact that this is one Appraisal; in a number of cases they of the small number of historic offer an opportunity to amend structures now remaining, located in a substantial damage wrought to Truro’s particularly prominent position for townscape in the later 20th century. perceptions of the area as a whole. 91 July 2005 and updated March 2010 Truro Conservation Area Appraisal 7: Issues and opportunities for enhancing Truro’s Conservation Area Theme 2: upper Pydar Street modern subways to the waterfront