61, Oxford Street

61 Oxford Street is a neo-classical townhouse dating from approximately 1830 to 1840, with a later 19th-century extension on the south side. The main fabric is stuccoed brick with a rusticated ground floor and quoins, set beneath slate roofs. The house originally comprised three storeys and one bay, with a recessed two-storey entrance bay to the south side. The original internal layout consisted of one front and one back room on each floor, although this has been altered and subdivided above ground floor level. A narrower, two-storey closet extension originally existed to the rear, and this has been altered and extended. A two-storey, two-bay extension is attached to the south-east side.

The left-hand side of the entrance bay is partially obscured by the extension. The pedimented entrance is framed by pilasters, and features a later two-over-two pane sash window above a door with two long vertical panels and a narrow, rectangular fanlight. A later canted bay window has been added to the ground floor. The first-floor window is set within a recessed arch with a decorative stuccoed wreath motif in the tympanum, and has a six-over-six pane sash. The second floor features triple round-headed casement windows. On the south-facing elevation, the rear part of the first floor of the entrance bay has a semi-circular lantern that illuminates the main staircase. Behind this, a two-storey cantilevered bow is located on the flank wall of the house, supported by cast-iron columns with decorative spandrels and original curved sashes. Generally, the windows are six-over-six pane sashes. Hipped roofs are present throughout. The late 19th-century two-storey extension attached to the house on the south-east side is not considered to be of particular architectural interest.

Inside, a distinctive open-string geometric staircase, lit by the semi-circular lantern, leads from the ground to the first floor. The mahogany handrail terminates in a spiral, square-section balusters and scrolled tread-ends. A separate staircase leads from the first to the second floor, featuring a mahogany handrail, square-section balusters, and turned newels. The room layout has been altered on the first and second floors. Original fireplaces and joinery remain.

Oxford Street was constructed in the 1830s, and No. 61 originally formed a pair with a house on the north side, now demolished. The building was once occupied by Lucia Foster Welch, the first Lady Mayor of Southampton, who died in 1940. The building is of special interest as a neo-classical townhouse of the 1830s, retaining original internal features of note. It contributes to the significance of one of Southampton's few remaining Georgian streets, and has group value with Nos 10-20 Oxford Street.