205-209, KINGS ROAD

205-209 King's Road is a corner block of three houses with shops below, dating from around 1858 and developed by Dr. John Phene. The building features plum and yellow stock brick with stucco dressings. It stands three storeys high with an attic and has a five-window front facing King's Road. Nos. 205 and 207 each have two windows in width, while 209 has a single wide window. The ground floors retain elements of 19th-century shop fronts. The first-floor windows are adorned with moulded architraves and hoods supported by consoles, while the second-floor windows are also within moulded architraves and feature cast iron balconettes at No. 207. A heavy modillion cornice crowns the building, and the attic windows are set within square moulded architraves. Most windows are 2/2 pane sash windows with margin lights, and the parapet is pierced over the windows with Italianate round-headed slots. The building has a curved corner and a return to Oakley Street with three bays. The shop front continues around the corner and retains moulded window surrounds. A door with an overlight is set between Corinthian pilasters that support an entablature. The ground floor has channelled rusticated stucco. The upper windows match those on the King's Road front, but the right-hand bay is blind, and the attic storey architraves have lost their mouldings. The cornice and parapet match those on the King's Road front. The interiors were not inspected. This building is part of Dr. John Phene's development of the former glebe lands of the parish of Chelsea, which was an ambitious scheme of Italianate terraces, and it forms a prominent group with Nos. 1-11 (odd) Oakley Street.