Survey Data
Reg No
50070139
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Saint James's Vicarage
Original Use
House
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1880 - 1900
Coordinates
313453, 234925
Date Recorded
06/10/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Pair of two-bay three-storey houses, built c.1890 as part of a terrace, having main entrance at first floor level and three-storey bay window to front (north-west) elevation. Full-height returns to rear, with later single-storey extensions. Attached at north-east end to later infill buildings. Shared hipped slate roof having terracotta ridge tiles and finials. Red brick chimneystacks having cornices and black brick ornamentation. Moulded red brick cornices. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond to upper floors. Rusticated render to ground floor. Segmental-arched window openings having polychrome voussoirs. Cut granite sills. Replacement uPVC windows. Round-arched entrance to open porch having red brick piers with chamfered and rounded edges supporting moulded red brick arch with black brick keystone. Square-headed door opening set within porch, having timber panelled door with timber side panels and plain overlights. Flight of cut granite steps with nosings to shared entrance platform having rendered retaining walls. Set back from road having recent paving to forecourt. Rendered boundary wall to front, having vehicular entrances with wrought-iron gates, with circular-profile piers.
Appraisal
This generously proportioned pair of houses with substantially raised entrance level present a grand elevation suited to the broad character of the tree-lined North Circular Road. The shared entrance platform with sweeping balustrades read as a single villa, although it seems they were built as part of a longer terrace with the identical buildings to the north, before the central part of the terrace was redeveloped. Decorative details such as the parapet cornice, black brick detailing and rendered ground floor help to breakdown the overall scale of front facades. The matching treatment of render to the basement level, balustrade and front boundary wall create a unified composition. The brickwork, entrance platform and front garden boundary walls all survive in good condition. The North Circular Road was laid out in the 1780s to create convenient approaches to the city. It developed slowly over the following century with the far west and east ends developing last.