52 And 54, Holywell Hill

This property is now a single house, dating to circa 1600 with a substantial front facade dating to about 1820. It has three storeys and an attic, displaying three windows, plus an additional window on the second floor positioned above a high carriageway that extends halfway up the first floor. A window located centrally on the second floor has been blocked. The roof is steeply pitched and tiled. The facade is plastered, with a moulded stone plinth and a moulded string course running along the first-floor cill level. The window above the carriageway is a two-light casement. The remaining first and second-floor windows are sash windows set within flush box frames, featuring Gothic glazing bars. There are two doors on the ground floor, centrally located; one is a six-panel door, and the other is modern. The window on the left-hand side is a 19th-century sash window with vertical glazing bars, while the window on the right-hand side is modern.

Inside, there are four rooms with panelling that dates to circa 1700. A panelled hall and staircase feature thick, twist balusters, and a panelled dado runs along the stairwell. The floors are of thick oak plank and a considerable number of exposed beams remain, including tie-beams and a long central beam in the attic. Close-studded timbering is exposed in two rooms and on the landing. One first-floor room contains a plaster ceiling decorated with a head of Caesar Augustus within medallions, set within geometric shapes with raised floral borders. A timber-framed rear extension is present. A memorial tablet commemorating the First World War, one of a series of plaques in St Albans marking the fallen of individual streets and localities, is set into a wall. The property forms part of a group with numbers 36 to 58 (even).