house

Terraced two-bay three-storey over basement former house, built c.1840, now in use as part of college. Pitched slate roof concealed behind parapet with ashlar granite coping, granite and moulded red brick cornice over moulded terracotta frieze having swag-and-wreath detail, brown brick chimneystacks with clay pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Red brick, laid in Flemish bond, to upper walls, rusticated render to ground floor and masonry plinth course over smooth render to basement. Square-headed window openings having one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows with raised render reveals and granite sills, continuous masonry sill course to first floor window openings. Segmental-headed door opening having masonry doorcase with stepped console brackets to entablature, acanthus leaf detail to architrave, timber panelled door and fanlight with Tudor rose glazing pattern. Nosed granite step. Cast-iron railings on carved granite plinth to basement well. Street fronted to Westland Row.

The soft red tones of the bricks contrast with the brown brick employed in the neighbouring buildings to the north, while the rusticated render to the ground floor and the later embellished terracotta frieze maintain a sense of continuity. The well-executed fanlight is a decorative focal point and noteworthy feature of the building. The houses in this terrace were soon adapted to include commercial businesses, and this building was occupied, in the mid-nineteenth century, by the Office of the Royal Horticultural Society. Westland Row was opened in 1773, and widened in 1792. It retains a number of late Georgian and early Victorian houses, creating an important and varied historic streetscape.