50-56, PENTON STREET

635-1/0/10134 PENTON STREET 07-MAR-02 50-56

II

50-56 Penton Street. Pair of houses. Circa 1784. Yellow brick fronts with stone cills. Slate mansard roof to Nos.50-52, tiled roof to Nos.54-56. PLAN: central entrance and staircase, with single room to each side per floor; later additions to front. EXTERIORS: each house is three bays wide, with 6/6-pane sash windows to either side, and blind central bay with blocked openings to each floor (only to first floor of Nos.54-56). Ground floors concealed by mid-Victorian shops built out over front gardens. Nos.50-52 has been heightened with a mansard roof, probably at which time the front at second floor level was rebuilt. Rear elevations have been remodelled. INTERIORS: each house retains its wooden open-string staircase with columnar newel posts and square rails; staircase of No.54-56 retains wooden panelling to dado height. Some four-panel doors and moulded doorcases survive on upper floors; ground floor rear of No.54-56 retains a moulded architrave to blocked window on east wall. HISTORY: first leased in 1784, these houses form part of the first phase of development of Pentonville, the large estate owned by Henry Penton MP. SOURCE: information from the Survey of London, English Heritage.