Clifton Hill House in a grade I listed building. Itwas designed by Isaac Ware and built in 1747 for Paul Fisher, a linen draper and ship owner. The date can still be seen above the entrance, as well as Paul and Mary Fisher's initials. The mason and carver was Thomas Paty, later a famous Bristol architect.

John Addington Symonds was born in Clifton, Bristol, in 1840 and lived in the house from 1851-1877. His father – also John Addington Symonds – was an eminent physician with an enormous and lucrative practice whose fame extended over much of the West Country. The Symondses were a cultured family and Dr Symonds himself had interests extending to art, archaeology, science and literature. The younger Symonds started at Harrow in 1854 and went on to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1860. He had inherited many of his father's interests but, possibly as a result of experiencing the homosexuality rampant at Harrow School during his time there, he also became a life-long advocate of male sexual relationships. Such practices were anathema to Victorian society and had to be kept secret. Nevertheless, although married and with a family, he wrote poetry inspired by his own homosexual affairs.