46-54, Braganza Street

Terrace of five houses at 46-54 Braganza Street, built before 1830, constructed in stock brick.

Each house comprises three storeys and two bays. The ground floor features a round-headed window and doorway, while the upper two floors have rectangular windows set beneath flat-gauged red brick arches. The first-floor windows are notably taller than those on other floors and are fitted with cast-iron balconettes in a heart and anthemion pattern. The doors have plain fanlights. The ground floor is rendered in stucco, scored with horizontal rustication and with voussoirs scored around each doorway and window. The roofline is concealed behind a high parapet, with two heavily moulded string courses dividing the storeys. The rear elevation is very plain, with neither stucco nor gauged brick arches to the windows.

The terrace has undergone heavy restoration. Much of the brickwork to the upper storey has been replaced or rebuilt, and the walls to the sides and rear have been entirely rebuilt. The original sashes have been replaced with period copies, though the balconies are original. The original doors have also been replaced. Despite these losses, the quality of the replacements mitigates the impact on the period appearance of the terrace. Southwark Council records confirm that internal plans submitted with a 1978 refurbishment application retained the original plan form and staircases. Inspection of the western end property in 2003 confirmed that the staircase there survives.

Stylistically, the buildings date to the early 19th century, evidenced by the pronounced string courses, recessed sash windows, first-floor emphasis, and the use of rusticated stucco on the ground floors. Map and documentary evidence indicates the houses were built before 1830. Richard Horwood's map of London, Westminster and Southwark (1792–99) showed the Kennington area largely as fields. Christopher and John Greenwood's map of 1830 shows houses built along Braganza Street, then called New Street. The buildings appear clearly on Edward Stanford's 'London and its Suburbs' map of 1862, and census records from 1841 confirm the houses were inhabited at that time. The row represents a good example of lower-middle-class housing built with classical features popular in more upmarket developments of the period. It is now one of only a handful of early 19th-century terraces remaining in this area.