I'm afraid the golden rule with putting self clinging climbers up a house wall is that the mortar in the pointing is very good, rock solid, not flaky or falling out. Its not clear whether the pointing is fine, but just looks terrible, or is just not good enough - clarification please?

would trellis work so it didn't cling to the house?
beautiful dog :O)))

Hydrangea petiolaris is a nice climber that self clings, but it is deciduous. The twigs/branches are pleasant to look at though.

Thanks for such instant responses - Mortar is not flaky or falling out, is actually very sound, but has marked the brickwork badly and does look terrible. i have put wires up to about 8ft and could do trellising if it was necessary. RockyDog is nine and a half and he is lovely. i love hydrangea petiolaris but hoped I could cover the mess completely.

maybe a range of plants to give you lots of shapes to confuse the eye I'm thinking that at the bottom cotoneaster horizontalis for the lovely berries and branch shapes and at the moment the winter jasmine is lovely

I thought of Hydrangea petiolaris, but it takes ages to decide to get going.
Don't forget that if you plant a fast-growing climber it will cover the unsightly first floor brickwork OK and then be ready for more, so you'll be constantly having to prune it to stop it burying the house.

I'm wondering about Pyracantha - it is a thorny beast, and would need rigorous training and pruning, but done well, it can look delightful up a house, particularly if trained horizontally above ground floor windows, when it gets big enough. Evergreen and has white flowers in May, with red or orange berries (depending on variety you choose). Not actually a climber, but more of a wall shrub, and will sort of lean against the wall, so would need tying in to get it to grow horizontally. Otherwise Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus), but that does get out of control and will be under the guttering at the top of the house and probably into the attic within 5 years, so you'd need a very long ladder to keep it in check. It's also deciduous, so all you see in winter is the runners clinging to the brickwork. And the window panes if you don't keep it in check...

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

Try Garrya elliptica. It's a free-standing wall shrub, evergreen with long grey catkins in winter. It will get to 10 feet at least.