Numbers 52 And 53

Terraced houses on Marine Parade, early 19th century. Numbers 52 and 53 form part of a larger group with numbers 50, 51, 54 and 55.

Number 53 has top-lit picture galleries added to its rear between 1865 by Captain Henry Hill, a military tailor, at which time the interiors were partly redecorated. Both buildings are stuccoed with roofs obscured by parapets.

The exteriors comprise three storeys and an attic over a basement. Number 52 has a two-window range to the two lower floors and three windows above; number 53 has a three-window range throughout. Both have banded and chamfered rustication to the ground floor and basement, and a single first-floor balcony runs across the elevation of both buildings. The balcony has lost its railings but retains cast iron brackets.

Number 52, the plainer of the two, has a flat-arched entry with an over-light, framed by Tuscan pilasters and entablature. To its right is a two-storey canted bay with tripartite windows, all flat-arched. One first-floor window has an architrave; the remainder are unmoulded. A storey band separates the second floor from the attic, and another caps the attic beneath the parapet. Number 53's elevation is treated as a full-height and full-width segmental bay with all windows flat-arched. The second-floor windows have architraves and cornices; the attic windows have architraves alone. The round-arched entrance is set within a prostyle porch comprising Doric columns supporting an entablature and blocking course. Chimney stacks are positioned at the party walls.

The rear elevations retain some sashes with glazing bars intact. Number 53 has a mid-19th-century five-light square bay and a window with marginal glazing featuring a Greek key design, plus a series of flat roofs to galleries topped with an oval dome of glass and probably cast iron.

The interiors contain remains of 19th-century cornices, ornamental doorcases and decorative details, though these have been damaged first by conversion into a nursing home in the mid to late 20th century and subsequently by squatters, who removed and destroyed many features including cast-iron stair rails.

To the rear, the ground floors have been extended with a series of top-lit picture galleries dating from 1865. One room features a cornice with lilies, two round-headed niches, dado panelling, a pair of doors to another gallery, and windows with stained glass to marginal glazing. Another has a lily cornice, dado panelling and double doors. The largest gallery has double doors, a coved ceiling, a large oval lantern originally glazed, wooden dado panelling and two original radiators. Additional hanging space was utilised by the corridor and staircase; the grandest has a coved ceiling with a high light register. Cast iron railings run to the stairs and areas.

Captain Hill amassed 400 canvasses during his lifetime, mainly French and English contemporary paintings. He was at one stage thought to possess the largest collection of Degas in the world and also had a fine collection of paintings by Frank Holl.