Rochester Mansions, Palmeira Mansions And Palmeira Avenue Mansions

This is a terrace of dwellings, now used as flats and offices, built between 1883 and 1884, with later 20th-century additions to the attic storey. The design is by H.J. Lanchester, with Jabez Reynolds Senior as the builder. The architecture is in an Italianate style.

The buildings are constructed with exposed cement render over brickwork (at Nos 7-11), painted render (at Nos 13-19), and have shallow-pitched slate roofs. Entrances are located on the left return in Palmeira Avenue (to No. 19) and on the right return in Rochester Gardens (to No. 7).

The terrace is four storeys high, plus an attic, and sits above a basement. Each unit has a three-window frontage, while the outer bays are canted and project slightly, connected by string courses. The sash windows originally lacked glazing bars, though the attic storey now has 20th-century windows. Some blind boxes remain, and dormers have been inserted into the attic.

A prominent central feature consists of a two-tier gabled section, topped by a segmental pediment bearing a heraldic achievement (likely that of Sir Isaac Goldsmid, Baron Palmeira) above a round-headed opening. Three round-headed windows are positioned below, flanked by aedicules resting on a heavy, moulded eaves cornice with paired brackets and an ornamental frieze. The third floor has camber-headed windows in square-headed openings, while the second floor windows have square-headed designs with entablatures on console brackets and a scroll pediment at their centre. The ground floor is rusticated. Flat-roofed Doric porches, with rusticated columns, provide access via half-glazed doors with ornamental grills and fanlights. The first-floor round-headed windows are linked by a continuous entablature with keystones, a pediment over the central window, and a continuous cast-iron balustrade supported by rendered console brackets.