Boston Defined Area Survey; 3, 5, 7 and 9 Spain Lane

Three, Five, Seven and Nine Spain Lane, Boston

A Grade II* terrace of four Georgian houses, built in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with tumbled brick to the west gable. The roof is pantiled.

The terrace is rectangular in plan, two storeys with attic rooms and a steeply pitched roof. Three ridge stacks rise from it: one at each gable end and one centrally placed between numbers 5 and 7.

The north elevation facing Spain Lane comprises ten bays. The central four bays are slightly advanced beneath an open pediment with a moulded fascia and modillion eaves cornice. This pedimented section contains four unhorned sash windows to the ground and first floors, and within the pediment itself, a blocked round window with radiating tracery. Above the first floor, flanking these central windows, are three sash windows, and two dormer windows with segmental arched lead roofs over six-paned sashes rise through the attic storey. The ground floor of the central section is flanked by pairs of recessed doors within panelled doorcases, each with overlights; beyond these, to east and west, are two unhorned sash windows. Both ground- and first-floor windows sit beneath brick segmental arches. The doors stand above a plinth, each accessed by three steps, with each pair of doors sharing a bottom step. A brick band divides the first and second floors.

The south elevation features a dormer window lighting the upper floor for each house, one casement window and one tripartite casement on the first floor, and a door and casement window on the ground floor. All openings are beneath brick segmental arches. Additional and altered openings are present, including an extra dormer between numbers 7 and 9.

The four houses retain varying amounts of original interior detail. Number 9, the easternmost, is the most complete and retains contemporary features in its front room. A fireplace surround with bracketed mantelpiece is flanked by arched niches with moulded pilasters above shelves and cupboards. The walls are lined with fielded dado panelling and the main doors have six fielded panels; shutters survive to both ground and first floor front rooms. The back room, the kitchen, contains a twentieth-century tiled fireplace. A six-panelled door in the west wall opens onto an enclosed stair. The first-floor front room to the north has a boarded fireplace with a plain surround and moulded mantelpiece, flanked by cupboards with six-panelled doors. Number 5 contains a similar arrangement, although one cupboard door has been removed. Number 5 also retains extensive joinery detail, including apparently recycled items such as a plain four-panelled door laid on its side to form part of a partition wall, and a panel with quatrefoil detail beside the stairs. All houses feature built-in cupboards, some with six and others with four-panelled doors. The main attic rooms contain arched niches, variously altered. Number 3 retains the least detail but preserves dado panelling to the ground-floor front room and many of its panelled doors.

The roof structure comprises coupled common rafters with purlins clasped by collars.