Hidden Henley

Many years ago I shared a picture of this curious eye-catcher with readers of the Henley Standard and this led me to being invited to climb into the folly part by the owner of the building at the time! It is a most attractive design located on the corner of Queen Street in our town. It’s easy to see that this photo was taken a few weeks ago during rainy weather!

It may have been built in 1897 along with the Imperial Hotel, which is still laying sad and empty, and the line of shops on either side. The architect used dragon finials to decorate the roofs in the block. The buildings were all half-timbered and were positioned to be straight ahead as visitors alighted from what was then the highly fashionable steam railway linking us in Henley to Twyford and London and the world beyond!

For many years it was the home of Gothard the Publishers, but more recently has been used for several businesses and private residences. I do wish that I knew what prompted the romantic design of the hexagonal top structure. Could it have been influenced by Friar Park which probably had been recently completed at the time? Does anyone reading this have any information?