Stanfield House And Attached Railings

A pair of semi-detached houses, now subdivided, dating from around 1730. The northern house is constructed of brown brick with red brick dressings and has a hipped, slated roof. It is two storeys high with two windows. The ground floor features a tripartite French window, and the flush-framed sashes have gauged brick segmental arches with exposed boxing. A parapet tops the building. The interior was altered in 1885 for use as a public library, and the first floor contains panelled rooms. The southern house is also of brown brick with red brick dressings and plain bands between storeys, featuring a tiled roof, and a cemented side wall to Prince Arthur Road. It is three storeys high plus a semi-basement, with three windows plus a blind window to the right. A wooden doorcase, with a console-bracketed cornice, frames a round-arched doorway containing a fanlight and panelled door, approached by steps with cast-iron railings. The flush-framed sashes have gauged brick segmental arches with exposed boxing, and a projecting wooden eaves cornice is present. The interior is noted to retain a panelled staircase and some ground and first floor rooms with box cornices. The houses are named Stanfield House, after Clarkson Stanfield RA, artist and friend of Dickens, who resided there between 1847 and 1865. A former Christian Science Church is located at the rear of Stanfield House; that building is separately listed at No. 2A Prince Arthur Road.