26, Tredegar Square

Terraced house, completed in 1827 with interior fitting out in 1836-7. It forms part of an important terrace with a classical stucco treatment, arranged as three linked three-story ranges. No. 26 comprises one decorated end of the centerpiece, featuring Ionic columns in antis under a deep cornice, over a rusticated ground floor. A two-story link building has a round-headed window between pilasters, topped with a pediment. The former no. 25 consists of two bays, the right bay slightly projecting, both featuring round-headed ground-floor windows and first-floor architrave surrounds. This house has always been the largest and grandest in the terrace.

Remarkable for its painted decoration, particularly in the first-floor front room, which contains a series of painted papers and panels in the style made popular by J G Crace in the late 1830s. This style is now exceptionally rare. The ceiling has stencilled decoration. Four wall panels flank the entrance and chimney breast opposite, and another four flank the front and rear windows; a further panel is above the chimney breast, all executed in a variety of media on paper and board glued to the walls. The larger panels have a green border drawn into a shallow arch, creating scale and an almost architectonic quality, and are framed with a gold stencil. Within each arch, a roundel depicts putti with various attributes, executed in oil on paper pasted over the wall paper. These are set off by birds resting on delicate ornament, with floral swags and naturalistic foliage including ivy branches, bamboo leaves, acanthus leaves, ribbons, a goldfish bowl, a vase, and birds. The roundels represent the arts and sciences. The quality of execution is high throughout.