319, 321 and 323, KENNINGTON ROAD

This is a terrace of three houses built around 1790-1791. The shopfronts have been altered in the 20th century, and some windows have been replaced. The houses are built of brick with slate mansard roofs, and have brick chimneystacks between each property. They are three storeys high, with attics, and have a semi-basement level. Each house has two windows facing the road.

The attics have flat-roofed dormers with mainly 19th-century sash windows. The second floor of number 319 has 20th-century top-opening casements within the original window openings. The mid-19th century windows on the upper floors are sash windows with vertical glazing bars. The original ground floor fronts of numbers 319 and 323 are visible beneath the later shopfronts; number 319 has a doorcase with a Coade stone surround and a simple radial fanlight. The rear elevation of number 323 retains sash windows with vertical glazing bars, while the remainder have 20th-century casements.

The interior of number 319 retains a high degree of late 18th-century joinery, including a decorative moulded archway, shutter boxes to the ground floor front room, original six and four-panelled doors, built-in cupboards, architraves, dado rails, half-height vertical panelling, and further dado-height panelling in the hallway. The original staircase remains in place, with stick balusters and turned column newels. The ground floor room plan is notable for the apsidal end of the front reception room, which features fitted cupboards and an alcove with shelves that flank the opening between the two spaces. The interiors of numbers 321 and 323 have not been inspected, but it is likely that similar features may survive.

These houses were built as part of a terrace on the Cleaver estate, which was leased to Thomas Ellis, a publican. Building sub-leases were granted by Ellis in 1790 and 1791. In 1872, the Metropolitan Board of Works authorized the construction of shopfronts that brought the building line forward, obscuring the original ground floors and front gardens.