44-94, FORTESS ROAD

This is a symmetrical terrace of 26 houses, arranged in four blocks and linked by recessed entrance bays. The terrace dates to the early 19th century and is located on Fortess Road in Camden.

The houses are constructed of yellow stock brick, with some later patching, and feature rusticated stucco ground floors. Numbers 76 to 84, known as Palmer House, have been largely refaced with multi-coloured stock brick. The buildings are three or four storeys high, with semi-basements, except for the end bays which are three storeys. Mansard roofs with slates and dormer windows are present on most houses, while Palmer House has dormers in slated roofs.

Most houses have two windows per front, with the end bays of each block slightly projecting. The recessed entrance bays have stuccoed porticoes, with No. 94 featuring wreathes in the frieze and some containing roundels. Doorways are square-headed, with pilaster-jambs that carry cornice-heads, over fanlights and panelled doors, most of which are half-glazed. Gauged brick flat arches are above the recessed sash windows, except on the first floors, which feature casements and cast-iron balconies of lyre design. A plain stucco sill band is present on the third floor of most houses, except for numbers 76 to 84, while the end bays have a meeting cornice and stucco balustraded parapets. Balustrading has been removed from numbers 44, 52 and 86, leaving only the outer dies; other houses have plain brick parapets, with numbers 78 to 84 stuccoed. “Fortess Terrace” is inscribed on the parapet.

The interior of the houses has not been inspected. Number 56 was formerly the home of Ford Maddox Brown, as marked by a Greater London Council plaque.