Ardnacrena

Attached two-bay two-storey house over raised basement, built c. 1895 as one of pair with house to northeast, having return to rear (north) elevation and canted-bay window to basement and ground floor of front elevation. M-profile hipped slate roof, having clay ridge tiles, brick chimneystacks to party walls with clay pots, dentillated and nail-head brick and granite eaves, and square-profile cast-iron rainwater goods; hipped roof with rendered chimneystack having clay pots to return; flat roof to canted-bay. Red brick walling to front elevation, laid in Flemish bond, having cut granite plinth course to base of ground floor and rusticated granite plinth to basement; rendered to rear and return. Camber-arch window openings with granite sills and one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows. Principal doorway set within slightly projecting brick surround shared with pair, having moulded brick stringcourse, cut granite coping above, chamfered yellow brick inner surround, camber-arch door opening with recessed timber six-panel door flanked by engaged timber colonnettes lacking capitals, and glazed sidelights and overlight; approached by flight of thirteen nosed granite steps and platform, shared with pair, having decorative cast-iron boot-scrape and wrought and cast-iron handrails, latter to west on granite plinth. Square-headed doorway to basement with replacement door, flanked by small window. Garden to front, bounded by cast-iron railings on carved granite plinths to front and east side, with matching gate.

The house retains much of its original form and character, enhanced by the survival of the well-designed doorcase, set in a decorative polychrome brick surround, exhibiting skilled artisanship. It forms part of an architectural set-piece, mirroring the neighbour to its northeast. The survival of the cast-ironwork to the boundary railings contributes to the suburban residential character of the streetscape, providing a sense of enclosure, marking the private space associated with the house. The combination of red brick construction materials and granite detailing adds further subtle interest to the façade. The use of the decorative brickwork places these buildings within a later nineteenth-century context as residential development extended west along the North Circular Road. The land on which the pair was built was sold by the Cowper-Temple family to James Moore, a coach builder, in 1894.