29, Christchurch Road

This is a detached house, one of a group of five, built in 1865. It is constructed of stuccoed brick, with a slate hipped roof concealed behind a parapet featuring moulded cornices, and brick side stacks.

The house has a two-room layout on either side of a central stair hall. The west front, facing Christchurch Road, has three bays and two storeys. The first floor features three four-pane sashes, each with an ogee profile canopy supported by cast iron brackets. The ground floor has a central, ornate porch with a tented canopy on ornate cast iron brackets, sheltering a door with fanlights and sidelights. This is flanked by five-light square bays with their own tented canopies. The south front, facing Grafton Road, has two bays. A ground-floor verandah, supported by ornate cast-iron openwork piers and a similarly profiled canopy, runs along part of the elevation. A tripartite sash window is on the left, and a canted bay to the right contains French casements and panelled shutters. The first floor of the south front also has two four-pane sashes with ogee profile canopies supported by cast iron brackets.

While the interior has not been inspected, comparable properties have simple marble fireplaces. Original features include moulded plaster ceiling borders and cornices, original joinery consisting of panelled doors, dog-leg cut-string staircases with stick balusters, turned newels and mahogany handrails.

Number 29 is similar in appearance to numbers 2-8 Grafton Road on its south elevation, but the Christchurch Road frontage is more elaborate. It forms part of an interesting mid-19th century grouping of stuccoed villas built in a Regency style.