153–159 Fairview Road is a terrace of four houses in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Gloucestershire, on the south side of Fairview Road beside the roundabout at its junction with Hewlett Road. The terrace became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1972. The street artist Banksy produced an artwork, ''

Spy Booth ''Spy Booth'' was an artwork by Banksy in Cheltenham, England. The piece has been seen as a critique of the global surveillance disclosures of 2013. In 2014, Robin Barton and Bankrobber London helped with the preservation of the artwork, and at ...

'', on either side of a public telephone booth adjacent to the

gable end A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

of number 159 in April 2014. The work was destroyed in August 2016.

Buildings

The terrace comprises four houses (odd numbers, from right to left: 153, 155, 157 and 159), constructed between and 1835, with later 19th- and 20th-century additions and rear extensions. Fairview Road was developed from 1806, when the field in which the road was built was inclosed by an Act of Parliament. The two-storey houses were built from

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

blocks, and are now covered in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

, with pilasters between the houses and at each end of the row, and

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

between the floors. A parapet with frieze atop the façade conceals the pitched roof. No. 153 also has an architrave and cornice. Nos. 153 and 155 have three bays each, originally with 2-over-2

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s, and nos. 157 and 159 have two bays each, originally with 1-over-1 sash windows. All have their entrance door in the right bay, recessed in nos. 153 and 155, and all have glazed overlights above panelled doors. A house adjacent to 159 Fairview Road, at 64 Hewlett Road, was acquired by

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

in around 1962 and demolished to allow for road improvement works.

Artwork

The street artist Banksy created an artwork, ''Spy Booth'', on either side of a public telephone adjacent to the gable end of no. 159 in April 2014, showing three stereotypical secret agents wearing dark sunglasses and brown raincoats, holding microphones to eavesdrop. The building is approximately from The Doughnut, the headquarters of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The artwork drew hundreds of visitors and suffered from several acts of vandalism before it was boarded up to protect it. Some reports indicate that it was sold to Sky Grimes, and was damaged in an attempt to remove the plaster on which it was created. Gloucestershire County Council delivered a "stop notice" requiring works to remove the plaster to cease, and then granted retrospective listed buildings consent for the artwork in February 2015, giving it protection under the building's listing. However, the artwork was destroyed in August 2016.

References

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Banksy thought to be behind Cheltenham artwork
BBC News, 14 April 2014

Gloucestershire Echo, 28 June 2014

Western Daily Press, 19 February 2015
Banksy spies mural: maintenance work on property halted
The Guardian, 2 July 2014
Vandals attack Cheltenham 'Banksy' artwork
BBC News, 18 April 2014
Banksy's GCHQ artwork vandalised in Cheltenham
The Guardian, 30 July 2014
Banksy spies mural near GCHQ vandalised with spray paint
The Guardian, 1 August 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:153-159 Fairview Road Buildings and structures in Cheltenham Grade II listed houses in Gloucestershire Houses completed in 1835