120 and 122 Oxford Road

A pair of semi-detached villas, built between the 1820s and late 1830s. Number 120 was converted to office use in the 1980s; both properties have since been converted to flats.

MATERIALS AND PLAN: the building is of red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone or stucco dressings and a roof covering of slate. The later boundary wall is brick with mild steel railings. It is of two storeys plus basement.

EXTERIOR: the building is a semi-detached pair of villas of classical design with a symmetrical, principal frontage onto Oxford Road. It has a hipped roof, with a pitched element behind the large pediment on the parapet of the south elevation. Number 120 has a single, north-facing dormer window and number 122 has one north-facing and one south-facing dormer. A brick chimney stack sits centrally on the roof, where the party wall between the properties meets the ridge line.

The principal, southern elevation is four bays wide, with the two central bays projecting forward slightly with a narrow, central recess at ground and first floors. The roof is concealed behind a parapet with a large, plain triangular pediment over the two central bays, and there are plat bands at first-floor cill height and above the first-floor window heads. There are four, timber sash windows under gauged-brickwork heads on each floor. At basement level, the windows of number 120 are six-over-six sashes while at number 122 the windows are four-over-eight sashes. On the ground floor, the outer windows are six-over-six sashes and the inner windows are large, round-arched sashes with eight panes to the lower sash frame. On the first floor, all four windows are six-over-six sashes.

The main entrances to the properties are on the side (east and west) elevations, accessed via flights of stone-coped brick steps. Both doorways sit within round-arched recessed and carry sunburst fanlights. The door to number 120 is six-panelled with the top two panels glazed, while the door to number 122 is two-panelled, with a linenfold pattern on the lower panel. Adjoining the stairs of number 120 to the north are two later extensions: a two-storey toilet block containing two modern casements and a single-storey outbuilding at the north-east corner of the building. There is a single-storey brick outhouse attached to the side elevation of number 122, separate from the staircase. At the northern end of the two side elevations at second-floor level are two, six-over-six sash windows, the southern of the pair being slightly taller on both elevations.

The rear elevations of numbers 120 and 122 are largely the same. There are three sash windows and a modern door at basement level, two six-over-six sashes on the raised ground floor and a single six-over-six sash window at first-floor level. The outer window opening on the raised ground floor of number 122 has been reduced in size. There is a brick boundary wall of C19 brickwork between the rear gardens of the two properties.