Numbers 7-47 (Odd) And Attached Gates

Terraced houses on the north side of Baalbec Road, Islington, dated 1886 and 1887. A row of substantial late-Victorian middle-class housing, built in red brick with terracotta detailing, set in Flemish bond. Roofs are variously finished in Welsh and artificial slate and tiles; some houses have been painted throughout. The terraces consist of three storeys over basement, each house occupying two bays.

Except for number 7, the houses are designed as pairs, with linked porches and balconies unified by a common central pedimented gable. Each pair has a slightly projecting porch with brick pilasters supporting a four-centred arch of gauged brick. The arch features a fluted keystone and a terracotta frieze decorated with palmette ornament. The porch floor is laid with coloured geometrical encaustic tiles. The main entrance is set in a deeply recessed wooden doorcase with sidelights and overlight, containing a glazed and panelled door. Several houses (numbers 13, 21, 27-33, 37-39 and 45) have decorative leaded glass in the door glazing, some incorporating painted roundels.

The bay windows have five lights to ground and first floors, with chamfered and moulded mullions. The heads are segmental arches of gauged brick with fluted keystones. Ground-floor bays are distinguished by a springing band of scrolling foliage, and some have leaded toplights. A second band of scrolling foliage forms a sill band to the first floor. An egg-and-dart cornice runs to the gutters, with a hipped slate roof to each bay. Between the bays is a central balcony with iron balustrade, accessed by a segmental-arched French window with gauged brick head and fluted keystone; this has been altered to a window in many cases.

The second floor has three segmental-arched windows per house. The inner windows of each pair are positioned eccentrically, with an ogee-shaped brick apron split between them. Terracotta panels inscribed alternately with 'AD' and '1886' mark the second storey. The inner windows are grouped beneath a central pedimented gable, whilst the outer windows are each paired under a smaller pedimented gable. Chimney stacks project from the party walls between pairs.

Number 7 is unpaired and follows the same pattern except that its second floor has four paired segmental-arched windows grouped beneath a single broad pedimented gable. Original wrought-iron gates to basements survive at numbers 17 and 21.

Interior features are documented for number 21. The entrance and staircase hall is floored with multi-coloured geometrical encaustic tiles and features an elaborate plaster cornice with consoles marking the division between entrance and staircase areas. A dog-leg stair with turned newel and acorn finial rises through all floors; it has an open string, turned balusters and moulded rail.

The ground-floor front room has an elaborate plaster cornice and ceiling rose. An ornate cast-iron fireplace, influenced by the Aesthetic Movement, features fluted pilasters and panels of female figures and foliage in relief, with transfer-printed tiles in the cheeks of the grate. The ground-floor back room also has an elaborate plaster cornice and ceiling rose, possibly original in part. Its fireplace is of marbled slate with gilded and incised geometrical ornament, and moulded multi-coloured tiles decorate the cheeks of the grate. The first-floor front room has a plaster cornice and ceiling rose. Other interiors were not inspected.

These houses represent a well-preserved example of late-Victorian middle-class terraced housing, distinguished by street fronts that are considerably more ornate and carefully considered than is typical of the period.