Numbers 1 To 3 (Consecutive) And Attached Railings

Numbers 1 to 3 are a group of three irregular terraced houses, forming a short crescent between Great Percy Street and Prideaux Place on the eastern side of Percy Circus, built on a steep hillside. The houses date from 1841 to 1843 and are part of the New River Estate, with the circus layout and design likely by William Chadwell Mylne. They were constructed of gold and brown stock bricks in a Flemish bond pattern, with a banded stucco ground floor, channelling, and stucco dressings. The roofs are largely hidden by parapets, except for the rear of number 1, which has an artificial-slate mansard roof with brick party-wall stacks.

The houses follow a side-hall plan for number 2, while numbers 1 and 3 have entrances set back in the left and right return walls of Great Percy Street and Prideaux Place respectively. They comprise four storeys and a basement, each house featuring a single window front. Steps lead to a recessed doorway at number 3, which has pilaster jambs supporting a corniced head, a rectangular 2-light overlight, and a 20th-century panelled door. The ground floor has original sashes at number 1, altered tripartite sashes at number 3, and 6/6 sashes at number 2. The first floor has a stucco sill band and architraved sashes with console-bracketed cornices and individual iron bracketed cast-iron balconies with palmette pattern railings. The windows on the first floor are 8/8 at number 1, 6/6 at number 2, and a 2/2 tripartite window at number 3. The second floor has 6/6 architraved sashes with keystones, while the third floor has a stucco sill band above gauged-brick flat arched 3/6 sashes. A stucco cornice is present on number 1 (now removed), with a blocking course above. A blind window with a gauged-brick flat arch is on the left return of number 1 on the upper floors. The right return of number 1 has 20th-century sashes. Attached cast-iron porch and area railings, with urn finials, complete the exterior.

Percy Circus was named in honour of Robert Percy Smith, one of the governors of the New River Company. The circus suffered extensive damage during the Second World War; two ranges along its northern side were destroyed by bombing and a third was demolished in 1968 to make way for the Royal Scot Hotel. Percy Circus is one of London's few circuses, and the only one that remains residential.