45-50 Market Place, Boston

The terrace at 45-50 Market Place, Boston, dates from the 18th century and is built of colourwashed brick under shallow-pitched slate roofs with brick chimney stacks. The terrace has a curved frontage, and each house has a long, rectangular plan. A two-storey extension was added to the rear of number 45 in the 20th century.

The terrace is three storeys high and has a twelve-bay front with two windows above each shop. A small dentilled wooden eaves cornice runs along the top, and a continuous sill band is present at first-floor level. The shop fronts are mostly 20th century replacements, except for the late 19th century shop front at number 50, which retains a cornice and narrow pilasters. The upper floors feature pairs of sash windows with narrow sills and wedge lintels. Timber glazing bars are found in the first-floor windows of numbers 45 and 49, while the others have single-pane sashes. Second-floor windows are smaller, with single-pane sashes at numbers 45, 46 and 48, casement windows at numbers 47 and 50, and a sash with glazing bars at number 49. Numbers 45 and 46 have a full attic storey hidden behind the roof ridge.

Internally, the plan forms have been altered, particularly on the ground floors, which have been remodelled into open-plan shops or, as at number 45, a college. The upper floors now provide domestic accommodation. Most of the original windows have been replaced, and all original doors and fireplaces have been removed. Some original interior decoration remains on the upper floors, including two arched openings supported by consoles, a section of cornicing embellished with plasterwork floral motifs, panelled shutters and window jambs, two reeded architraves with roundels in the corners, and two rear staircases with stick balusters. There is the possibility that some original cornicing may survive behind the inserted ground-floor ceilings.