Numbers 25 To 48 (Consecutive) And Attached Railings

Terraced houses on the west side of Lonsdale Square, Islington, dating from approximately 1838 to 1845 and designed by R C Carpenter. The terrace comprises numbers 25 to 48 consecutive, including numbers 25A, 28A and 44. These are four-storey houses over basements in white and yellow brick laid in Flemish bond with stucco detailing, except numbers 28A and 44 which are three storeys. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate except for numbers 28, 34 and 45 which have asbestos slate. Each house has two windows to its principal elevation, except numbers 28A and 44 which have one.

The terrace displays common architectural features across all houses except numbers 28A and 44: basement and ground floor entrance bays with stucco detailing, deep splayed window reveals, hoodmoulds and mullions where windows are multi-light, stacks set against party walls, and cast-iron railings to the basement areas with fleur-de-lys finials.

The terrace is arranged in four distinct design schemes. Numbers 25, 25A, 26 and 27 feature Tudor-arched entrances beneath dripmoulds that project flush with the window bay to form single-storey porches, each entrance crowned by a stepped parapet enclosing a blank lobed quatrefoil. The entrances are Tudor-arched with sidehairs and four-panel doors. Number 27 differs, having a Tudor-arched entrance without a porch and an overlight of three quatrefoils matching the pattern of numbers 28-43. All have two-light windows to first and second floors of the entrance bay and ground, first and second floors of the window bay. The third floor is treated over the window bay as a shouldered gable with a single unhooded window, and over the entrance bay as a stepped parapet, except number 27 which has a simple parapet.

Numbers 28 to 43 have Tudor-arched entrances with three-quatrefoil overlights and four-panel doors. Windows to the entrance bay are single-light; windows to ground, first and second floors of the window bay are three-light. Moulded storey bands run over the ground and second floors, the latter retaining some foliage ornaments. The third floor is treated over the window bay as a shouldered gable with a single unhooded window, and over the entrance bay as a parapet.

Numbers 28A and 44 present only entrance bays to the square. Both have Tudor-arched entrances with three-quatrefoil overlights (blank on number 44), moulded storey bands over the ground floor, and single-light windows to first and second floors, topped by parapets. Only the façade of number 44 is listed.

Numbers 45 to 48 have Tudor-arched entrances brought flush with the window bay to form single-storey porches surmounted by stepped parapets enclosing blank lobed quatrefoils. The entrances are Tudor-arched with sidelighs to the left and four-panel doors, except number 45 which has no porch and has an overlight of three quatrefoils as in numbers 28-43. Two-light windows sit over the entrances; ground, first and second floors of the window bay have four-light windows. Moulded storey bands run over ground and second floors, the latter retaining foliage mouldings. The third floor is treated over the window bay as a shouldered gable with a single unhooded window. Over the entrance bay, numbers 46 and 47 have stepped parapets; number 45 has a simple parapet, and number 48 has a parapet presumably altered to this simpler form.

Individual features distinguish numbers 25 and 48. Number 25 has a right-hand return with storey bands continued from the square, two stacks corbelled out at the level of the lower storey band, and one third-floor window. Number 48 has a left-hand return with similar storey bands and corbelled stacks, but with cambered-arched windows to the first, second and third floors.

Many interiors retain original staircases, unusual moulded cornices and simple fire surrounds with cast-iron grates.

Lonsdale Square, designed by the pioneering Gothic church architect R C Carpenter, is notable for its novel use of the Tudor Gothic style. This terrace, forming half of the square, survives little altered in its interior and exterior. It represents a unique, intense and immaculately composed piece of design.