36, 38 AND 40, EARLHAM STREET

36, 38, and 40 Earlham Street form an early 19th-century terrace with later shop premises on the ground floors of numbers 36 and 38. The terrace is four storeys high, plus a basement, and consists of three bays. It is constructed primarily of red/brown stock brick, with the ground floor facade and a rebuilt parapet in yellow stock brick. A fifth floor, set back from the original facade, was added in the late 20th century. The terrace likely began as three dwellings, although the ground floor level has been altered, with a vehicular entrance created through number 40. Numbers 36 and 38 were remodelled in the 19th century, possibly more than once, to accommodate shop premises, and were subsequently refurbished in the 1990s.

Each shop frontage features a central eight-over-eight pane hornless sash window with shutters, flanked by brick panels incorporating vertical batons for the shutters. Below each window are three wooden panels, the central one angled inwards. A door with an overlight is positioned to the right of each frontage, with a brick panel to the left. A fascia board runs across the top of each frontage, supported by console brackets at the far end of each shop and one between them. The shopfronts, including the brickwork, project slightly from the main facade. Historic photographs from 1959 and 1990 show the shop frontages in place, the 1959 image displaying earlier shutters with circular apertures, which were retained during the 1990s refurbishment. While the ground floor windows now appear to be reproductions, it is unclear whether the shopfront joinery was entirely replaced or merely repainted. The upper floor windows are eight-over-eight pane horned sashes with cambered arches, with modern balconettes on the first floor. Earlier photographs from 1959 and 1974 show these windows as un-horned, suggesting they have also been replaced.

The ground floor interiors of 36 and 38 have been stripped out, revealing brickwork within 38. The side walls are predominantly red stock brick, while the front wall is a mix of yellow and red brick, with two stone blocks in the northeast corner. The upper floors were not inspected.

36, 38, and 40 Earlham Street are significant as a surviving example of an early 19th-century terrace within the Seven Dials Conservation Area.