Nos 1-17 (Consecutive) And Attached Railings

This is a terrace of houses built between 1860 and 1865. The buildings are constructed of stucco over rubble and brick, with some structural cast-iron, and have hipped slate roofs hidden behind a moulded parapet. Designed in an Italianate style, the terrace forms one side of Palmeira Square, abutting Adelaide Crescent to the south, and includes numbers 68-72 Western Road.

The terrace is five storeys high, plus a basement, with each unit having a three-window frontage. The bays are separated by quoins or recessed pilasters, forming a 2:4:5:4:2 bay arrangement. The windows are sash windows, originally without glazing bars, though some now have blind boxes. There is an attic storey with small round or square-headed windows, a third floor with square-headed windows above a flat string with Vitruvian scroll decoration, and larger windows below with pilaster surrounds carrying an entablature. The central bay has a segmental pediment, while the first floor has a canted bay window with a balustraded parapet and a balcony with a cast-iron balustrade on shaped stone brackets. The ground floor features a tripartite window with twisted cast-iron mullions, and some windows have cast-iron window box guards.

The houses have flat-roofed Doric porches with balustrading and some with glass panels set between the columns for wind protection, held in place by wrought-iron supports. Entrances are via a short flight of steps, with fanlights above the doors. The doors themselves have four recessed panels and key pattern decoration, some with inserted lights. In the centre of the terrace, the first and second floor windows have been built out to form a two-storey loggia supported by a three-bay colonnade of rusticated shafts and a single front porch. Cast-iron railings extend from the entrances along the street frontage.

The terrace was built for Sir Isaac Lyons Goldsmid as a continuation of Adelaide Crescent. Goldsmid held the Portuguese title of Baron Palmeira, and the square is named in his honour.