Goldsmiths' Almshouses And Railings Fronting Road

The Goldsmiths’ Almshouses, dating from 1811 and designed by Charles Beazley, comprise three ranges of two-storey buildings arranged around an open court, with a cast iron screen defining the fourth side of the courtyard. The buildings are constructed of brown brick with a stucco central feature and south-facing elevations. The central building features eleven double-hung sash windows flanked by one window on each side; the windows are set in reveals with sills and flat arches. Arched doorways, alternating with windows, contain six-panel doors, bracketed hoods, and fanlights. A projecting central feature has a channeled ground floor and a semi-circular porch supported by two Ionic columns. The first floor features panels under a flat roof with acroteria at the corners, containing a lunette, a hatchment, and two staffs of Mercury, topped by a pediment containing a clock in the tympanum. The side buildings, connected to the central range by curved walls, each have eight windows. The south-facing elevations include projecting porticos with two Ionic columns set in antis, leading into arched bays; there are cast iron railings and gates, raised six steps above ground level. Rusticated stucco chimney stacks flanked by panels and carved stone volutes with lion heads and swags adorn the gable ends above the porticos, with cornices interrupted by the chimney stacks. Two sections of cast iron railings, arrow-headed with vases on the main stanchions, front the street.