Numbers 54 And 55 And Attached Railings

Numbers 54 and 55 Marine Parade are a pair of terraced houses dating to around 1825, designed by Amon Wilds and Charles Augustin Busby. A shop or cafe was added to Number 55 in the mid to late 19th century. The buildings are constructed of stucco with obscured roofs behind parapets.

The architectural style is of three storeys with a two-storey attic above a basement. Each house has three windows. The facades are divided into bays by giant pilasters rising through the first and second floors, topped by a complete entablature between the second and third floors. Above, the windows of the two-storey attic are set within a bay system of entablatures and plain pilasters that follow the lines of the pilastrade below. The elevation of Number 54 is treated as a full-height and full-width segmental bay. The basements have chamfered rustication. The entrance to Number 54 is flat-arched and sits beneath a prostyle porch featuring two fluted Doric columns supporting an entablature with a blocking course above. The left return of this entablature retains remnants of a meander pattern in the frieze. All windows are square-headed with architraves; those on the first and second floors have wood pelmets. A verandah with cast-iron railings, supported by brackets, extends from the first floor, and is covered by a metal lean-to roof. The entrance to Number 55, now boarded over, is similarly set under a prostyle porch of the Doric Order. A cornice separates the third floor from the attic, with a cornice and parapet finishing the attic.

At the rear of the right return of Number 55, the structure steps down to two storeys and is topped by a cornice band with railing. A single-storey structure, likely built as a shop, projects from the front of Number 55, extending to the pavement. The principal elevation of this projecting structure features round-arched windows set into an arcade of three bays, with piers decorated by four pilasters of the Composite Order, supporting an entablature. The left return is blank, while the right return has a blind arcade of two bays and a square-headed window.

Interior features include some 19th-century decorative details such as cornices and doorcases, but many were removed during a conversion to a nursing home in the mid to late 20th century. Further damage to the interiors occurred due to squatters, who removed cast-iron stair rails and fireplaces during a period when the buildings were vacant.

Numbers 54 and 55 are part of a group that includes Numbers 50-53 Marine Parade.