Building record 1438800000 - Gaiety Row

Known collectively as Gaiety Row because of their associations with the Gaiety Girls (one of whom married the Earl of Orkney). Asymmetrical composition of 12 houses, probably built in two phases with the southern six (including the White Tower) being built later. They are of two storeys with pan-tiled roofs with wide, shallow front gables. The northern six have an attic storey with narrower, steeper gables and plain tiled roofs. Not dated but The Terrace, Riverside is marked on a 1902 sales catalogue plan. They exhibit the usual late Victorian/Edwardian interesting features such as turrets, finials, pebble dash and half-timbering. The balconies have been glazed in, mostly with inappropriate large-paned windows. Summercroft is a particularly good example which has retained its character. Said to have been designed in the offices of well-known Reading architect, Joseph Morris, who became Berkshire's first County Surveyor and designed several municipal buildings. Some believe that the row was actually designed by his daughter, Violet Morris, who may have been the first British female architect. This is a local building of note within the Conservation Area of Taplow Riverside. (B1).