Numbers 261 and 263 and Attached Railings

A pair of semi-detached houses forming the return of a crescent, dating from the 1830s. The houses are built of stucco, with a rusticated ground floor. They are four storeys high and have basements. Each house has two windows, and the return to Number 1 Mornington Crescent is a single window. The doorways have square heads, fanlights, and panelled doors; the door to Number 263 is a 20th-century replacement. Recessed sash windows are present on all but the first floor. The second floor windows have architraves, and the third floor windows are flanked by pilasters. The first floor has casement windows with cast-iron balconies. The windows of Number 261 are set in round-arched, architraved recesses linked by an impost band on pilasters, while those of Number 263 have simpler architraves. An entablature is located at the third-floor level; Number 261 has a dentil cornice. A narrow cornice sits above the third floor of Number 261. The parapets are deep and altered. The interiors were not inspected. The houses have attached cast-iron railings. A historical note indicates that Number 263 was the home of the artist George Cruikshank, noted by a plaque.