house

Terrace of fourteen two-bay houses, built c.1855, three comprising two-storey over basement, others comprising two-storey, having returns to rear (east) elevation. Pitched roofs and hipped M-profile slate and artificial slate roofs, having brick and rendered chimneystacks, cut granite coping to parapet, and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Yellow brick walls laid in Flemish bond, red brick walls to No.2. Square-headed window openings having cut granite sills, two-over-two pane and six-over-six pane timber sash windows and replacement uPVC windows. Some two-over-two pane with margin sashes to ground floor. Elliptical-arched door openings having moulded render surrounds, carved doorcases with decorative consoles, plain and leaded fanlights, and timber panelled doors, approached by nosed granite steps. Cut granite steps with wrought-iron railings to houses over basement. Some cast-iron bootscrapes. Wrought-iron railings on cut granite plinth to front gardens, with matching pedestrian gates. Some railings removed forming driveways.

The South Circular Road was laid out in the eighteenth century, but the majority of development around it took place in the late nineteenth century to provide suburban housing for the burgeoning middle class. One of the earlier new streets laid out in the area, Longwood Avenue was begun in 1853. Development was rapid with Thom's Street Directory of 1860 indicating that all fifty houses were built by that year. Typical of such private developments, the houses were built in small groups of similar though not identical houses, resulting in groups with slight decorative variations while maintaining a coherent character. Much early fabric is retained, including decorative doorcases, fanlights and early windows, making a positive contribution to the character of the streetscape.