53-59 and attached railings Cross Street

A row of four terraced houses located on Cross Street, dating to circa 1768 and built by Benjamin Williams, a carpenter. The houses are constructed of yellow brick laid in a Flemish bond, with yellow gauged brick arches over the windows. The roofs have been repaired with clay tiles. Numbers 53-59 each have two windows per floor with 2/2-pane plate glass sashes. Number 53 has dormers in a mansard roof.

The exterior features steps leading to a flat-arched entrance with a wooden doorcase consisting of pilasters supporting an open pediment, an overlight, and a panelled door. All windows are flat-arched with gauged brick heads, and the parapet with stone coping has been rebuilt. Projections from the party walls above the roof carry chimney stacks. Cast-iron railings are present to the front areas.

The interiors, as documented in the Survey of London, retain many original features and are of a similar design throughout the four houses. Number 53 is typical, with original wooden panelling and partition walls. A staircase includes turned columnar newel posts, paired at the half-landings. Early kitchen features, including copper elements, remain within the basement. Angle-set wooden chimneypieces are found in the back rooms on each floor, with the ground floor fireplace featuring marble slips and a dentil cornice. The entrance hall walls contain extensive remains of stencilled decorative paintwork, depicting a Gothic arch with rosette motifs in blue, grey, and black.

The houses are situated on land that was part of the copyhold property of the Manor of Canonbury and was owned by the Tufnell family in the mid-18th century. The south side of Cross Street was laid out in 1767 and largely occupied by 1779. The internal layout, with its significant wooden construction and joinery, reflects Benjamin Williams’ role as a carpenter in their construction. The stencilled decoration in Number 53, mimicking wallpaper, is an unusual survival, demonstrating the application of fashionable Neo-classical decoration to houses of the middling sort.