Numbers 1-5 (Consecutive) And Attached Garden Walls And Railings

Terraced houses at 1-5 Canonbury Place, Islington, built 1767–71 for developer John Dawes. Number 1 is now used as offices and was altered, probably in the early 19th century. The buildings are constructed in brick and stucco with slate roofs (tile on number 5).

Number 1 presents a two-storey west front over a half-basement with dormers in the attic. The façade is three bays wide, with flat-arched windows between giant Ionic pilasters decorated with acanthus ornament to the lower neck of the capitals, supporting a plain frieze with dentil cornice. The mansard roof features three round-arched dormers. The north front rises three storeys over four bays, with all windows under flat arches; the two westernmost bays are blank. An entrance is set in a plain recessed round arch with a panelled door and fanlight. Original sashes survive on the ground and first floors, with a moulded cornice. The south front has two bays to the east; the remainder is blank stucco. An original lead rainwater head is present, and ground-floor windows have cast-iron balconies, the eastern one resited. Upper floors at the east end have been rebuilt with 20th-century glazing. Railings with urn finials front the garden; banded stone piers with fluted tops carry urns at the south-west corner of the front garden.

Numbers 2–4 are two storeys over half-basements with dormers in the attic, each with three flat-arched windows. Steps lead to the entrance, which has a Gibbs surround, a panelled door of original design, and a decorative fanlight. Original sashes remain except to the ground floor of number 3. A band runs above the second floor. Lead rainwater pipes and heads dated 1780 appear on number 2 (pipe and head) and number 4 (head only). Each has a parapet, mansard roof with flat-arched dormers, and stacks to party walls. Cast-iron railings with urn finials complete the frontage.

Number 5 is two storeys with dormers in the attic and four flat-arched windows irregularly disposed, with giant pilasters. The entrance is a round-arched opening with a neo-Classical architrave with voussoirs, a console keystone, and an urn and paterae to the frieze. A double panelled door of original design and decorative fanlight are present. A storey band and parapet are featured. Two rainwater heads are dated 1780; only the upper portions of the lead pipes survive. The garden front is of brown brick in Flemish bond, three storeys, with a six-window range and a canted two-storey bay to the centre. The bay has fluted architraves to French windows; upper windows retain 6/6 sashes of original design. A lead rainwater pipe with a head dated 1780 is present. A single-storey extension to the south-west dates at least partly to the 20th century. Iron railings to the bay feature a wreathed rail.

Interior of Number 1: The ground floor entrance hall contains early 19th-century architraves to doors and a good wooden fireplace of circa 1800 in the north-east room. To the rear of the entrance hall, a dog-leg stair running through four storeys and the basement has an open string, decorative brackets, a wreathed and ramped handrail, and stick balusters. The entrance to the staircase hall is between Greek Doric columns distyle in antis supporting a plain entablature with a plaster roundel of Apollo above. An open well stone staircase with curtail step, wreathed handrail, open string, and probably early 19th-century cast-iron balusters is present; the landing ceiling has a modillion cornice. The principal ground-floor room has panelled double doors with plain moulded architrave and panelled window embrasures. A small south-east room retains original architraves to doors and windows with dentil cornice, full-height windows with panelled embrasures and original shutters, panelled double doors, Corinthian pilasters flanking the chimneybreast, and a projecting niche between the windows which appears to be an addition. A plain early 19th-century white marble mantelpiece and early 19th-century fitted mahogany cabinets flank the chimneybreast and double doors. The first floor principal room has panelled double doors set in an Adam-style architrave with entablature and frieze, and a white marble Neo-classical mantelpiece. Panelled embrasures to windows retain original shutters; the walls are divided by a dado rail, Adam-style frieze, and complex moulded cornice. A ceiling rose with circular acanthus ornament is present. A small south-east room has an early 19th-century cast-iron Tudor-Gothic fireplace with a simple marble mantelpiece.

Number 2 retains an original staircase with the same details as the dog-leg stair at number 1, some original reeded architraves, panelled window embrasures, and an elliptical archway between front and back rooms on the ground floor with fanlight and reeded architrave. The basement has been partly modified by Sir Basil Spence, who lived at number 2.

Number 3 has an original staircase detailed as on the dog-leg stair at number 1. The two ground-floor rooms and the first-floor front room have moulded plaster cornices and early 19th-century cast-iron grates.

Number 4 has an original staircase and cast-iron grates to both ground-floor rooms and the first-floor front room.

Interior of Number 5: The entrance hall has a dado rail and plaster modillion cornice. A dog-leg stair with curtail step, stick balusters, turned newels, a wreathed and ramped handrail, and an open string decorated as on the dog-leg stair at number 1 is present. Panelled doors with moulded architraves appear throughout. The easternmost ground-floor room has a moulded dado rail and a plaster cornice with a frieze of palmette and urn ornament. A fireplace with an early 19th-century cast-iron grate and Adam-style mantelpiece is present, with a modelled plaster roundel to the chimneypiece surrounded by festoons in the Adam style. The middle room is panelled to cornice height with a moulded dado rail and framing, a moulded plaster cornice, and a simple marble mantelpiece. The first-floor landing has a moulded plaster cornice with a frieze of paterae and fluting. The easternmost first-floor room has a moulded dado rail and a plaster cornice with a frieze of anthemion and urn ornaments, an early 19th-century cast-iron grate, and a mantelpiece decorated with fluting, lozenges, and circles. The middle room has a moulded dado rail and a plaster cornice with a frieze of palmette and fan ornament. The westernmost room has a moulded dado rail, a plaster cornice with a frieze of palmette and anthemion ornament, and a ceiling decorated in the Adam style; a fine late 18th-century cast-iron grate with a mantelpiece of green and white marble decorated with urns and rosettes is present. Good late 18th-century cast-iron grates appear in the east, middle, and west bedrooms on the attic floor.

Weedon Grossmith, joint author of The Diary of a Nobody, lived at number 5 from 1891 to 1899.