25-30, CRAVEN STREET WC2

Nos. 25 to 30 Craven Street are terraced townhouses built between 1791 and 1792. They are constructed of brown brick with channelled stucco ground floors and have concealed slate roofs. The buildings rise four storeys and have basements, each featuring three windows across the front. No. 25 has had its front rebuilt in facsimile and includes a southeast return with full-height brick bows, each with one window. The doorways are located to the left and right of each pair of houses, featuring semicircular arches in plain shallow surrounds. The panelled doors are recessed and flanked by sidelights, topped with architrave heads beneath looped radial patterned fanlights. The windows have recessed glazing bar sashes under flat gauged arches, with three of the windows on the front of No. 25 being blind. The ground floor stuccowork is finished with a plat band that serves as a sill band for the tall first-floor windows. Nos. 25 to 29 have delicate bowed iron balconettes at the first-floor windows, while No. 30 has simpler iron guards. The area is enclosed by cast iron railings with urn finials. Inside, the houses retain geometrical open well staircases with slender turned balustrades and simple late 18th-century mouldings and chimneypieces. Notably, No. 25 features a white marble chimney piece in the first-floor front room, with fluted pilaster jambs capped by urns in relief and a central garland and medallion tablet. This row of houses is part of the 18th-century development of the Craven family's Brewhouse estate, which was laid out by the architect Flitcroft.