40-46, WEST STREET

This is a mid-19th century terrace of four houses located on West Street, Hertfordshire. The houses are constructed of yellow-brown stock brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a Welsh slate roof and three brick chimney stacks. Each chimney has a band, cream terracotta pots, and cowl tops.

The front of the houses presents three storeys and six bays. The first floor has four recessed sash windows with six panes, each beneath a segmentally cambered brick arch with rubbed details. Two smaller sash windows are positioned between the larger ones, above the ground-floor doors of numbers 42 and 44. The second floor has four windows: two casement windows are on the left, replacing earlier shallow sash windows. Two right-hand openings retain their six-pane sashes, with their upper frames set close to the eaves soffit. The ground floor has four large six-pane sash windows. The entrance doors to numbers 40 and 46 are located at the extreme left and right, respectively. These are six-panel doors recessed within stucco surrounds with curved reveals and a single stone step. The doors to numbers 42 and 44 are set between pairs of windows and are four-panel doors with arched upper panels. They have flat, projecting surrounds, plain glazed fanlights with curved stucco reveals, slim pilaster surrounds, a fascia, and a projecting cornice hood. A stone step leads to the threshold of number 42. Yorkstone flags form the floor of the side passageway leading to the entrance of number 40.

The interior features simple 19th-century details, including newel staircases with stick balusters and moulded handrails, four-panel doors with scotia-moulded architraves, and 19th-century fireplace surrounds with shelves on consoles. Second-floor rooms have an attic-like character with limited headroom. Numbers 42 and 44 are slightly larger and feature a cranked party wall which provides a second front bedroom on the first floor.