Nos 43-48 Great Russell Street

Nos 43-48 Great Russell Street

Six terraced houses with shops at ground-floor level. Nos 44-47 are thought to date from about 1720; the outer corner buildings (Nos 43 and 48) were constructed about 1855-1864 by William Finch Hill, probably with E L Paraire, at which time Nos 44-47 were refronted.

The buildings are constructed of stuccoed brick. The single-pane sash windows at first-floor level and above are 20th-century insertions.

Nos 44-47 form a row of uniform width with rear closet wings now linked with former service areas to the rear, which are much altered. Nos 43 and 48 form corner pavilions: No 43 has a rectangular plan extending southwards along Coptic Street; No 48, which has a wider frontage on Great Russell Street, has a rectangular plan running on a west/east axis.

All buildings are three windows wide to Great Russell Street. No 43 has a seven-window return to Coptic Street, and No 48 has a splayed one-window corner and a single-window return to Museum Street. The buildings are of four storeys, with the corner pavilions being slightly higher; the storeys of the terrace and pavilions are not aligned.

The overall style of the corner buildings is modified French Renaissance, whilst the treatment of the central terrace shows a more sober Italianate influence.

In Nos 44-47, the rusticated ground floor has square-headed openings with keystones; the doorways have plain rectangular fanlights and 20th-century doors. The windows are recessed, without architraves. At first-floor level is a cornice; above, the first and second floor windows are separated by rusticated pilaster strips, with wider strips between the houses. The first-floor window architraves have console-bracketed pediments and fielded aprons; on the second floor the windows have fielded panels above, and on the third floor have cornice heads with fielded panels between the windows. There is a dentil cornice, with lion masks marking the junctions between the houses, surmounted by a balustraded parapet.

No 43 has rusticated pilaster strips to the angles; at first-floor level and above these are vermicilated. On the Great Russell Street elevation, the shop front has an arcaded treatment with fluted pilasters, the centre arch being the window with decorative wrought-iron grille to the riser, the left-hand arch forming a fanlight to the part-glazed house door and the right-hand arch a fanlight to the shop entrance, protected by an elaborately decorative wrought-iron grille. In the spandrels are roundels with stained glass. On the Coptic Street elevation the ground floor is entirely rusticated. The round-arched openings have faceted keystones; there is a single doorway, with a second apparently converted to a window. At first-floor level is a mutule cornice. Above, the rusticated pilaster strips are vermicilated. The round-arched first-floor windows have architraves enriched with a decorative rope-moulding with anthemion to the base; above are blind oculi with husk swags. At second-floor level the windows have segmental heads, a cill linking the architraves. Above a bracketed cornice the attic windows have architraves with anthemion to the keys.

In No 48, the Great Russell Street elevation has an arcaded treatment, with a central doorway flanked by windows. There is vermicilated rustication to the wide piers and voussoirs, and the keystones have masks. The corner has another, square-headed, entrance, flanked by pilasters above which are plaques with dolphins and anchors in relief; a third pilaster marks the end of the building on Museum Street. On Museum Street, a more recent shopfront has been inserted between the pilasters. Above ground-floor level, the building follows the same pattern as No 43, though with pilaster strips of vermicilated rustication between the windows. There is plain rustication to the corner, with vermicilated keystones.

The interiors of the earlier houses (Nos 44-47) were inspected only for Nos 45-47. These make it clear that the houses behind the frontages date from the early 18th century, probably around 1720. Each house is entered to the west, with a dog-leg stair to the south-west and two rooms to each floor, and closets to the rear.

Survival is best within No 46, which retains a number of historic features. The stair remains intact above the ground floor, with an open string to the landing above first-floor level, and a closed string above that. The lower part of the stair has moulded brackets; the balusters have a twisted element above the base, but the column above is plain rather than twisted, as would be the case in the more usual configuration. Above first-floor level the turned balusters are vase-shaped. There is full-height recessed panelling to the stair and to the first floor. The neo-classical window architraves to the first-floor front room belong to the 19th-century re-fronting. The panelling, shelving and chimneypiece in the ground-floor shop are understood to be 20th-century. Six and four-panelled doors found within the house are probably later 18th-century or early 19th-century. The house contains a number of 19th-century fireplaces, with a cast-iron range in the cellar.

No 45 has the same stair as No 46, and some panelling remaining to the stair and second-floor areas. The ground-floor shop does not retain historic features.

No 47 has received very extensive restoration, including the restoration or replacement of much of the stair, on the original model. Some original panelling is thought to remain to the upper stair and first floor.

The houses have 19th-century roofs, though reached by 18th-century stair compartments, that to the converted roof space of No 45 being a replacement.

The later, corner buildings (Nos 43 and 48) were not inspected internally other than the ground-floor shop of No 48, which does not retain significant historic features.