1, 3 And 5, Bloomsbury Street

Nos. 1, 3, and 5 Bloomsbury Street is a terrace of three houses with later shops, built around 1766-67 and altered around 1845. The terrace was constructed by J Medlam and later modified by H W Cooper. The buildings are finished in stucco and consist of three storeys, an attic, and cellars, with three windows each. No. 5 features a five-window return, mostly blind, and a two-storey, one-window entrance addition facing Streatham Street.

The houses have recessed sash windows, some retaining original glazing bars, and a secondary cornice at the third-floor level, along with a cornice and blocking course.

No. 1 has a rusticated ground floor with a round-arched doorway, a fanlight, and a panelled door. It features architraves around the windows, round-headed openings on the ground floor, and consoles and pediments, with a segmental centre pediment on the first floor. The interior, not inspected, is noted to retain marble mantlepieces and an Adam style ceiling on the first floor, along with square panelling and 18th-century fireplaces on the second floor.

No. 3 has a later 19th-century ground floor shop and lugged architraves on the first-floor windows. The interior was not inspected.

No. 5 features a later 19th-century stucco ground floor shopfront with attached Ionic columns supporting an entablature with a console-bracketed cornice. It has lugged architraves on the first-floor windows, each with a wrought-iron balcony. The return is made of multi-coloured stock brick with a plain stucco band at the first-floor level, and the windows have gauged red brick arches and attached cast-iron railings. The interior, not inspected, is noted to have square balusters and shaped ends to the stairs on the upper floor.

Historically, No. 5 was the home of Paul Saunders, a tapestry-maker, from 1766 to 1771, whose commercial premises were located at the rear (Nos. 2 and 4 Streatham Street, now demolished). The houses originally formed part of a longer terrace that was demolished for the construction of New Oxford Street, during which time the fronts were altered.