107, 109 AND 111, OLD CHURCH STREET

A terrace of three houses located on Old Church Street, built between 1914 and 1915 by F E Williams of the firm Cox and Williams. The houses are constructed of narrow hand-made bricks with exceptional tall brick stacks, and have slate roofs. Number 109 shares a common entrance with number 111; otherwise, the houses have a long, narrow two-bay plan with a single room to the front, a deep bay to the rear, and a central stair and hall lit by an internal courtyard—a characteristic feature of Cox and Williams's design.

The buildings are three storeys high, with an attic and basement. The central house, number 109, projects slightly forward under a rendered pediment displaying an Adamnesque medallion and swag. A very deep eaves cornice ties the whole composition together. All windows are lead lattice casements, except for an altered dormer to number 109. First-floor windows are tripartite, featuring a central round-arched French window inspired by Norman Shaw, which opens onto a wooden balcony with a turned baluster balustrade in unpainted timber. Ground-floor windows incorporate central projecting three-light oriels. Numbers 107 and 109 retain their original six-panel doors, square leaded top-lights, and door furniture, as well as panelled door surrounds and iron area railings. Number 109 is distinguished by a large projecting sign in the form of a swan.

Number 107 features an internal fanlight to the vestibule. The central hallway contains an elaborate turned close-string stair with a box room below, lit by an oval leaded light. All rooms have exaggeratedly concave moulded cornices. The interiors of numbers 109 and 111 were not inspected but are reportedly in the same style and similarly complete.

The terrace is recognized as an important example of the work of Cox and Williams, who reserved their distinctive style for a select group of prestigious townhouses, and forms an impressive and complete group within its surroundings.