53-59 Monmouth Street

This pair of 18th-century houses was refronted in the 19th century and then restored and partly remodelled between 1983 and 1985 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle.

The pair has stock brick front elevations laid in Flemish bond, with stock brick dressings and tile roofs. The rear elevation is in red brick, featuring a timber and masonry porch and paving, along with masonry parapet walls fitted with steel rails.

The new work uses a scale, forms, and palette of materials and colours that complement the existing buildings whilst providing both a unifying identity and new vitality to the scheme. Traditional materials are interpreted in a forward-thinking manner, with windows and bold entrances painted turquoise blue, black and deep red.

Plan

The pair comprises two houses with entrances positioned to the right for number 53 and left for number 55. Consequently, the ground floor is fitted out with individual shops. The upper floors of number 53 are served by rear entrance number 2, where the original but restored 18th-century stair survives in situ. The upper floors of number 55 are reached by the conventional Monmouth Street entrance and hallway.

Exterior

The street elevation rises through three storeys with an added attic storey. The shopfront to number 53 has shaped brackets on an otherwise plain fascia, a window of five-over-five fixed lights with slender glazing bars, and a raking stall riser. The glazed two-leaf door is set back beneath a two-light overlight. The shopfront to number 55 has a slightly moulded architrave, full-height glazed lights with slender glazing bars and possibly later horizontal bars, above a panelled stall riser. The entrance, set back behind outer screen gates, has a six-panel door beneath a tall overlight. Both buildings display Farrell's lozenge-shaped number plates.

The upper floors have recessed four-pane sashes with masonry cills beneath gauged, flat, stock brick arches. The attic storey, behind a plain rebuilt parapet, has set-back half-hipped dormers, each with three timber casements and tile roofs. A stock brick stack stands to the left at number 53.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevations enclose Ching Court, which slopes from north to south. Throughout, rear basement areas clad in masonry are set behind a shallow moulded masonry plinth with a tubular steel balustrade featuring Farrell's signature reversed CC insignia.

Numbers 53-55 are built in red brick and symmetrically arranged in four storeys plus a basement. Dominating the ground floor is Farrell's monumental porch, one of three serving the upper floor offices on this side of the Court. Each porch represents a bold interpretation of a baroque 18th-century doorcase, flat-roofed and almost Mannerist in concept. The doorcases are painted turquoise blue, with the outer face of the canopy picked out in deep red. Each is reached by a shallow flight of semi-circular masonry steps—a single step in this case—with an inset polished circular panel in the upper step and a masonry threshold between flared masonry parapet walls of different heights. The entrance is recessed behind square-section openings and beneath a canopy with a central convex moulding, also picked out in deep red, which responds to the concave cornice above. The door has four square glazed lights above flush moulded panels, at the centre of which sits a door knob with a letter box set low beneath it. The returns, which in this case project, have simple recessed panels beneath a shallow cornice. Each has a recessed fixed panel resembling a door with four square glazed lights, and similar blind panels flanking the entrance.

To each side of the porch is a six-over-six pane sash with very slender glazing bars painted black, beneath a flat gauged brick arch, and fitted with Farrell's window guard. The upper floor windows have segmental heads in 18th-century manner and six-over-six or two-over-four panes.

Interior

The stair to number 53 rises the full height of the house at the rear and is the only retained 18th-century stair in the scheme, albeit restored with some fabric renewed. It has a moulded closed string, square-section moulded rail, square-section newels with moulded caps, and turned balusters. The stairwell has a panelled dado of incised mouldings which successfully echo the original scheme. In the stairwell, renewed panelling and doorcases with torus mouldings have robust flying cornices, in a Mannerist, postmodern interpretation of an 18th-century decorative scheme.

The upper floors of number 55 are reached from Monmouth Street. The hall has full-height plain panelling with moulded cornices and a moulded arch. The stairwell has a plain panelled dado and is lined in vertical boards on the upper floor. It has a robust 18th-century stair, along with panelling salvaged from number 49 Monmouth Street. The stair has a closed string, square newels, a moulded rail and vase balusters. The stairwell and principal rooms have full-height plain panelling, the first floor rooms with box cornices and the upper floor with cavetto cornices. There is a six-panel door on the first floor; elsewhere doors and cupboards match the panelling.

57-59 Monmouth Street

This pair of early 19th-century houses, probably with an earlier core, was restored and partly remodelled between 1983 and 1985 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle.

Number 57 is built in red brick and number 59 in stock brick, both laid in Flemish bond with stock brick dressings. At the rear is a timber and masonry porch.

The scale, forms, and palette of materials and colours used in the new work complement the existing buildings and provide both a unifying identity and new vitality to the scheme. Traditional materials are interpreted in a forward-thinking manner, with windows and bold entrances painted turquoise blue, black and deep red.

Plan

The ground floor is fitted out as a single shop but preserves the traditional entrances to left and right. The upper floors are fitted out as offices and served by rear entrance number 4.

Exterior

The street elevation rises through three storeys plus a full attic storey flush with the facade, arranged in two bays each, with a set-back entrance in the outer bay. The shopfront, restored and rebuilt by Farrell, has a sloping stall riser and slender glazing bars and is canted at the entrances which are set back, with part-glazed four-panel doors. The left-hand entrance at number 57 has a retained ornate metal screen and overthrow. Both buildings display Farrell's lozenge-shaped number plates. First and second floor windows are recessed six-over-six pane sashes with slender glazing bars beneath gauged flat brick arches with masonry cills. The attic storey, above a plain brick and stone cornice, has three-over-six pane sashes and a corbelled brick cornice. A single stack stands to the left at number 57.

Rear Elevation

The rear Ching Court elevation is in stock brick and asymmetrically arranged. Number 57 rises through three storeys and number 59 through four storeys, each with a basement. Dominating the ground floor is Farrell's monumental porch, one of three serving the upper floor offices on this side of the Court. Each represents a bold interpretation of a baroque 18th-century doorcase, flat-roofed and almost Mannerist in concept. The doorcases are painted turquoise blue, with the outer face of the canopy picked out in deep red. Each is reached by a shallow flight of semi-circular masonry steps—three steps in this case—with an inset polished circular panel in the upper step and between a flared masonry threshold. The entrance is recessed behind a square-section opening and beneath a canopy with a central convex moulding, also picked out in deep red, which responds to the concave cornice above. The door has four square glazed lights above flush moulded panels, at the centre of which sits a door knob with a letter box set low beneath it. The returns have simple recessed panels beneath a shallow cornice. Each has a recessed fixed panel resembling a door with four square glazed lights above flush panels.

Ground floor windows are also six-over-six pane sashes beneath flat gauged brick arches, with slender glazing bars painted black and fitted with Farrell's window guards. Upper floor windows have segmental heads and vary from two-over-four to six-over-six panes depending on function.

Interior

The stair to the rear of the building is a reproduction based on a design from the Inns of Court. It has a closed string and robust, tall turned balusters. The dado has plain panelling, and as elsewhere in the scheme, the stairwell has Farrell doorcases with torus mouldings and robust flying cornices, in a Mannerist, postmodern interpretation of an 18th-century decorative scheme. The upper floor rooms are similarly interpreted. The first floor front room to number 57 has a circular ceiling motif, and structural and partition walls have plain full-height panelling with robust moulded cornices. Number 59, with which it connects internally creating a larger office space, has dado panelling beneath the windows.

The mapping of the rear porches, parapet walls and railings is not drawn to scale.