42-45b Alexandra Road

This is a terrace of four shops and houses built in the late 19th century, with later alterations. The building is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern (whitewashed on number 42/3, and rendered on number 45B), with a Welsh slate roof. It features a cast and wrought iron arcade and balcony.

The terrace stands three storeys high, with eight bays, two bays assigned to each house. A full-length pavement arcade carries a first-floor balcony, featuring a wide, single bay for each house and narrower bays for the entrances located centrally, and at the left and right ends. The piers supporting the arcade have tall, moulded pedestals and bulbous, foliate bases leading to fluted columns with foliate capitals. Above these are moulded sections with ornate, openwork basket arches in the narrower outer bays, and similar brackets in the inner bays (missing from number 45, and obscured by a nameboard on number 45A). A plain frieze runs along the upper section. The ornate Arts and Crafts-style balcony railings have delicate scrollwork and floral motifs, a moulded top rail, and square column principals with moulded bases and shafts, foliate capitals, and ball finials. Similar railings are positioned at right angles between the houses.

On the ground floor, pairs of doors are situated in the central section (numbers 43AB and 44), with single doors at the left end (number 42AB) and the right end (number 45B). Shop windows are positioned between these entrances. All doors and windows are set within wooden surrounds with panelled pilasters, fluted consoles, moulded cornices, and friezes. The three original entrances to the left (numbers 42AB, 43AB, and 44) have panelled reveals, with an original four-panelled door to number 44, while the others have been replaced in the 20th century. Number 42/3 (the Information Centre) has unsympathetic 20th-century doors and a two-light window beneath a boxed-in cornice. Number 45 (Take Five) has a 20th-century four-light window beneath a 19th-century cornice. Number 45A (Tom's Bargain Centre) has a 20th-century six-light shop window. An early 20th-century entrance to number 45B on the right has a panelled door and a Gothic-style overlight within the reveal.

The first floor features a balcony door and plain overlight beneath a moulded ashlar lintel for each house, alongside a wooden canted bay window with pilasters, an entablature with a plain frieze, a moulded cornice, and a hood. Number 42/3 has a 20th-century glazed door to the left and a half-glazed panelled door to the right, with 20th-century glazing in the bays. Number 44 retains its original half-glazed panelled door and plate-glass sashes in the bay. Number 45B has a blocked door and original sashes within the bay.

The second floor has a pair of windows beneath moulded lintels for each house. Numbers 42 and 45B have unsympathetic 20th-century glazing, while number 44 retains original plate-glass sashes. Numbers 44 and 45B have original moulded wooden eaves brackets flanking window lintels, with moulded sections of brackets missing from number 42/3; plain eaves boards are present throughout. Three ridge stacks rise from the roof, each with bases, single brick bands, and modillioned brick cornices. Together with the neighbouring building at number 41 (Woodliffe Villa), this terrace represents the best-preserved balconied buildings on the seafront.