NUMBERS 1-8, 10-14 AND 17-19 AND ATTACHED RAILINGS

Park Village West is a pioneering group of 16 related houses designed in a picturesque layout by John Nash, James Pennethorne and other assistants in the Nash office between 1832 and 1837. They were built for the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. All the houses are finished in stucco and represent various architectural styles.

Numbers 1 to 7 form a terrace, probably designed by James Pennethorne around 1832. These are double-fronted houses arranged with two houses at each end forming return wings, the western wing facing Albany Street. Each house is two storeys with a basement and three windows across. Central doorways have four-centred arches with part-glazed doors flanked by columns that support slated roofs forming porches. These porches extend over flanking canted bays fitted with five-light transomed and mullioned windows. The first floor has a central two-light casement flanked by three-light casements. The terrace features a cornice and blocking course with tall stuccoed slab chimney-stacks. Numbers 1 and 2 have attached stucco walls with trellis and grilled segmental-headed openings to light the basement areas, along with pillars. Numbers 3 to 7 have attached cast-iron railings mounted on sleeper walls with piers.

Number 8 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by Charles Lee for Joseph Baxendale. This asymmetrical villa has a slated roof with gables on three elevations, two storeys and an attic, and three windows. The ground floor features a projecting gabled right-hand bay with two windows and an open distyle-in-antis portico with a panelled door and radial patterned fanlight. Windows are architraved sashes, and there is a bay at the rear supported on cast-iron columns. Cast-iron railings are mounted on a dwarf wall.

Number 10 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office for HC Cholmondeley. This villa has a slated hipped roof with projecting eaves and an asymmetrical front facade. It is two storeys with a semi-basement and three windows. The entrance features a prostyle portico with a panelled door and fanlight. To the right, a chimney-stack rises from ground floor level. Windows are architraved recessed sashes. The right and left returns have canted bay windows, and there is a two-storey canted bay window at the rear. Attached cast-iron railings are mounted on a sleeper wall with gate piers.

Number 11 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office for A Duff and was restored around 1975. It has a slated hipped roof with bracketed eaves and tall stuccoed slab chimney-stacks to right and left. The house is two storeys with a semi-basement and a symmetrical facade of three windows. The entrance is in a channelled stucco porch projection to the left, with a round-arched doorway featuring a radial fanlight and panelled door. Ground floor casements have cast-iron guards. First floor sashes have architraved heads linked by impost bands. Attached cast-iron railings are mounted on a sleeper wall.

Number 12, known as Tower House, was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office for James Johnson, physician to William IV. It features low slated pitched roofs with wide bracketed eaves and stuccoed slab stacks with dentil enrichment. This Italianate design incorporates a three-storey octagonal entrance tower based on the Tower of the Winds, positioned at the angle of a two- and three-storey villa. The right-hand return has a three-window canted oriel rising through two storeys. The entrance porch is pedimented with a panelled door. Windows are recessed sashes, those above the porch being blind. The ground floor of the oriel has casements with a cast-iron balcony. An attached low sleeper wall features columns carrying urns and cast-iron railings. Number 12A is a single-storey pedimented building of later date with tetrastyle pilaster treatment, formerly the coach house of Number 12.

Number 13 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office. It has a slated roof with projecting bracketed eaves and a stuccoed slab chimney-stack. This semi-detached house abuts Number 14 at its west end. It is two storeys with a basement, double-fronted with three windows. The ground floor has rusticated pilaster strips, a plain band at first floor level, and plain pilaster strips to the first floor, along with a first floor sill band. The central entrance has an architraved doorway with a panelled door and radial fanlight, flanked by tripartite windows with enriched consoles on the mullions. The first floor has recessed sashes. Attached cast-iron railings to the basement areas are mounted on a sleeper wall with piers, those flanking the steps decorated with wreaths and surmounted by urns.

Number 14 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office and built by J Johnson. It has a slated roof with projecting bracketed (coupled) eaves and a stuccoed slab chimney-stack. This semi-detached house has its main facade facing Albany Street and abuts Number 13 at the rear. It is three storeys with a basement, double-fronted with three windows, and has a one-window right return. The facade is in rusticated stucco. The round-arched doorway has a panelled door, radial fanlight, and semicircular glass hood on cast-iron brackets, flanked by three-light canted bay windows with enriched consoles on the mullions supporting an entablature that continues above the doorway. Upper floors have architraved sashes with aprons and louvred shutters. Attached cast-iron railings are mounted on a sleeper wall with openings to light the basement areas.

Number 17 was designed around 1834 to 1837 by the Nash office. This L-shaped villa is in Tudor-Gothic style with steeply pitched slated roofs and gables featuring tall polygonal stacks and finials. It is two storeys with an attic and basement, plus a single-storey porch and entrance hall in the angle between the wings. Each gabled facade has one window. The projecting porch has a deep parapet and is buttressed at the angles, with a square-headed doorway featuring a hood mould, panelled door, and fanlight. Both gabled facades have octagonal pinnacled buttresses, a finial at the apex, and a stucco string course. The left facade has a transomed and mullioned ground floor window, a two-light casement on the first floor, and a single-light attic casement. The right facade has a four-light transomed and mullioned canted bay window with a parapet, a two-light casement on the first floor, and a single-light attic casement above. Attached cast-iron railings run to the basement areas and on a dwarf wall. A plaque on the side of the porch commemorates the founding of a Church of England religious sisterhood here in 1845.

Number 18 was built around 1832, probably by Pennethorne. It has slated gabled roofs with projecting bracketed eaves and tall rectangular chimney pots set diagonally. This rectangular villa has projecting canted bays and is attached to Number 19 at its north-west corner. It is two storeys with an attic and semi-basement, and two windows. The square-headed doorway has a hood mould and panelled door. Above this is a three-light recessed casement with a hood mould and a crenellated parapet. The projecting bay to the right has a five-light canted bay window rising through ground and first floors with a small slated roof having bracketed eaves, and a two-light attic window above. The right-hand return has a chimney-stack rising from ground floor level. The projecting bay on the right-hand return is similar but the bay window is on the ground floor only. Attached cast-iron railings run to the basement areas and on a dwarf wall.

Number 19 was built around 1832, probably by Pennethorne. It has slated gabled roofs with projecting bracketed eaves and tall rectangular chimney pots set diagonally. This irregular villa has projecting bays and is attached to Number 18 at its south-east corner. It is two storeys with an attic and semi-basement, and two windows. The pointed arch doorway has a panelled door and patterned fanlight, above which is a three-light oriel window with a small roof and parapet. The projecting gabled bay to the left has a five-light canted bay window rising through ground and first floors with a small slated roof having bracketed eaves, and a two-light attic window above. The left-hand return has a chimney-stack rising from ground floor level. The projecting bay on the left return is similar but the bay window is on the ground floor only. Attached cast-iron railings run to the basement areas and on a dwarf wall.

The interiors were not inspected at the time of listing.

Park Village East and West were first sketched out by John Nash in 1823 as developments of small independent houses at the edge of Regent's Park. They had great influence on the development of the Victorian middle-class suburb. Both villages originally backed onto the Cumberland Basin arm of the Regent's Canal, constructed between 1813 and 1816 to service Cumberland Market and filled in during 1942 to 1943. Park Village West is listed at Grade II* on account of its innovation and completeness.