Stephenson Terrace

Stephenson Terrace is a substantial terrace of town houses dating from approximately 1847-51, designed by George Mould. It is located on Deepdale Road in Preston and has been converted into offices and surgeries. The terrace is constructed of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings to the front, and brick to the rear, with a slate roof.

The design is based on a double-depth plan, with each house originally single-fronted, except the two houses at the left end, which have double frontages. Each house has cellars and attics. The terrace comprises a symmetrical range of 48 bays, with an 8-bay central section and 4-bay ends that project forward and have their own attic storeys. Architectural details include quoins, a plinth, a first-floor sill band, a plain frieze, and a moulded cornice that extends around the building as a sill band to the attic storeys. The central section and ends feature similar cornices surmounted by parapets; the central parapet includes an upstand panel inscribed with "STEPHENSON TERRACE".

The doorways all have porches with Tuscan columns and pilasters, supported by entablatures with blocking courses. The porches on the southern half of the terrace are accessed by steps. Most of the ground-floor doorways have been altered, although No. 102 has a doorway in the return wall featuring an architrave of Tuscan columns in antis. Upper-floor windows are regularly spaced and have molded architraves; most of those on the southern half are sash windows, while most to the north have been altered. The low, 6-pane sash windows in the attics of the central and end sections are notable. Nos 74 and 78 have rectangular bay windows, and Nos 68, 76, 80, and houses 86 to 102 have canted bays. The roofs have some skylights, and stone chimneys are positioned along the ridge.

Attached ramped walls of sandstone with rounded coping enclose the front gardens. To the rear are narrow, two-storey back extensions and very narrow yards enclosed by a high back wall. The interiors of the inspected houses include two-room cellars and servants’ stairs leading to attics, which are disguised as cupboards.