Numbers 15-24 (Consecutive) And Attached Railings And Number 25 (King Edward VI Public House)

Terrace of ten houses and public house on the south side of Bromfield Street, Islington, dating from the early 1840s. The buildings are constructed in brown stock brick laid in Flemish bond, with the ground floors finished in stuccoed channelled ashlar and stucco dressings throughout. The roof covering is not visible from public view.

The terrace forms a symmetrical composition with a centre block (numbers 19–22) set slightly in recession. All buildings rise three storeys above basement level. The ground floor is finished with channelled stucco that continues around the return elevation of the public house at number 25. Numbers 15–24 each have two bays; number 25 presents four bays to the front and three blind bays on the return elevation.

Numbers 15–24 feature low steps leading to entrances positioned in the right bay. The doorways have simple jambs supporting corniced heads (the head to number 15 has been altered). Most retain original two or four-panelled doors, though numbers 15, 17, 19 and 24 have been replaced with twentieth-century doors. Rectangular fanlights are present, with oval-patterned fanlights to numbers 16, 17, 20, 21, 23 and 24. Simple moulded stucco hoods survive above the doors at numbers 15 and 16, though both have been altered.

Ground-floor windows throughout are six-over-six pane sashes with narrow margin lights, except numbers 23 and 24 which have later two-over-two sashes. The first floor is marked by a stucco sill band. First and second-floor windows feature moulded stucco architraves with six-over-six sashes, except numbers 20, 23 and 24 which have two-over-two sashes. Iron balconettes with neo-classical motifs decorate the first-floor windows. Moulded stucco cornices run to the parapet; those to numbers 20, 23 and the front of number 25 have been removed. Behind the parapet are butterfly roofs and brick party-wall chimney stacks. Iron railings with urn finials enclose the basement areas of numbers 15–24, though none exists at number 25.

The rear elevations have windows set in cambered arches. Some retain original six-over-six sashes with margin lights; others have been replaced with late nineteenth or twentieth-century sashes. Number 25, the King Edward VI Public House, occupies an irregular wedge-shaped site with a canted and slightly curved corner. The stuccoed pub front displays Classical detailing but has been altered.

The interiors of numbers 15–24 follow the conventional terraced house plan, with entrance halls positioned to the right leading through to rear stairs, with two rooms deep and lower rear closets. These interiors have not been inspected in detail. Number 25 has its stair placed centrally at the rear. The ground-floor pub interior contains no features of architectural interest. A modern stair has been inserted in the north-east corner. A dog-leg stair with balustrade and panelled dado survives in part, with later nineteenth-century matchboarded dados on the upper flights. A first-floor room has been subdivided by a later partition but retains its moulded cornice and dado rail. The upper floors preserve original door and window architraves and other joinery.

Bromfield Street was originally called King Edward Street. The street first appears in the Rate Books in 1842 with three houses and was developed progressively thereafter. An Islington Street directory of 1853 lists a public house called the George VI at number 25, under the proprietorship of C. Watts.

The terrace is of special interest as a well-preserved early Victorian composition, designed as a symmetrical group, which adjoins numbers 1–14 Bromfield Street, with which it forms a significant townscape ensemble.