Nos. 16-23, OLD BUILDINGS

Eight terraced chambers at Lincoln's Inn, comprising numbers 16 to 23 Old Buildings. The buildings date from circa 1524 and circa 1609, with alterations carried out at various periods.

Number 16 dates from circa 1524 with later alterations. It is constructed in brown brick, rises four storeys and contains five windows. A central stair turret has modern buttresses and a rusticated stucco doorway with keystones and a plain band above. Sixteenth and seventeenth century projecting chimney stacks rise the full height of the building, with a modern buttressed chimney turret on the north-east corner. Most windows are late seventeenth and early eighteenth century sashes with gauged brick flat arches at ground floor level (with segmental arches elsewhere) set in slightly recessed positions with exposed boxing and red brick dressings. Some windows retain original glazing bars. The building has parapets with small pointed gables. The rear of Number 16 now forms Numbers 12 and 13 New Square.

Number 17 occupies the former site of the Tudor screens passage and adjoining buttery. The building was altered in 1583 when a new passage was built with chambers constructed above it and over the old kitchen. The frontage and the position of the passageway were transposed with that of the door during the 1930s. It is constructed in multi-coloured stock brick, rises four storeys and contains six windows. A rusticated stucco doorway with keystones and a plain band above provides the entrance. A twentieth century four-centred archway with moulded brick architrave and Lombard frieze opens to the passageway. A brick chimney stack rises the full height. Most windows are eighteenth century sashes with segmental arches and exposed boxing, though some early nineteenth century tripartite windows are present. A plain band runs at third floor level, and the building has a parapet.

Number 18 dates from circa 1524 with later alterations. The ground and first floors are constructed in brown brick. The second and third floors are of jettied, half-timbered construction with cement rendering. A rendered parapet with a moulded band below and at third floor level tops the building. It rises four storeys with three windows. A rusticated stucco doorway with keystones and a plain band above provides the entrance. Eighteenth century sash windows with architraves light the ground, second and third floors. The rear elevation to Hale Court is jettied at third floor level and cement rendered.

Number 19 dates from circa 1524 with later alterations. It is constructed in brown brick, rises four storeys and contains two windows, including one in an octagonal stair turret. A rusticated stucco doorway with keystones and a plain band above serves as the entrance. The ground floor of the turret is cement rendered. Most windows date from the early eighteenth century, featuring gauged brick segmental arches to slightly recessed sashes with exposed boxing. The building has a parapet; the turret parapet was rebuilt with a string below.

Number 20 dates from circa 1524 and was formerly the Tudor kitchen range. It was altered in 1583 when chambers were built over the old kitchens. Only the staircase turret with entrance and a one-window return bay occupy the corner of Old Square. The south elevation of six windows faces Hale Court but is now partly obscured by a twentieth century building. The building is constructed in brown brick. The staircase turret has a rusticated stucco doorway with keystones and a plain band above. Square-headed two-light windows with stone dressings light the first, second and third floors. Plain bands run below the parapet and at fourth floor level. The return bay features segmental-arched windows with flush frames.

Numbers 21, 22 and 23 date from circa 1609 with later alterations. They are constructed in brown brick with tile roofs, rise four storeys, and contain two, three and five windows respectively. Number 21 has a corner staircase turret with entrance, matched by a (rebuilt) turret of Number 24. Rusticated stucco doorways with keystones and plain bands above provide entrances. Most windows date from the early eighteenth century, featuring gauged red brick segmental arches and dressings to slightly recessed sashes with exposed boxing. The turrets are lit by three square-headed two-light windows with stone dressings, three small square-headed windows and two slits. Plain bands run below the parapets, which feature small pointed gables.

The interiors were not inspected, but Number 20 is noted to contain the blocked-up remains of Tudor kitchen fireplaces and ovens.

Attached cast-iron railings with pineapple finials form part of the subsidiary features.