11-25, Walton Well Road

This is a terrace of eight houses built in 1883 by the speculative builders, Curtis Brothers. The terrace was constructed during a period of residential expansion east of the Oxford Canal in the Walton Bridge area of North Oxford, following the earlier establishment of factories along the canal. It is situated adjacent to the Eagle ironworks, founded in 1826.

The houses are built of yellow brick with flush red and blue brick strings and arches, and offset red eaves with yellow dentils. Stone window dressings are used, and the roofs are steep slate, with brick chimneys. The houses are arranged in a linear row. Each house is two storeys and has an attic, with eight gables to the front and two stepped gables in the centre with stone coping. Each house features a canted ground-floor bay window with a hipped slate roof, and a first-floor sash window with a rounded brick arch over a carved stone tympanum. These tympana depict nine Old Testament scenes from the life of Elijah, showcasing Elijah being fed by ravens, Elijah dividing the Jordan, and Elijah ascending to heaven in a fiery chariot. A further sash window is located in the gable above. All sash windows retain their original marginal glazing and ovolo-moulded ashlar jambs. To the left of each house is a porch recess with a brick arch, stone steps, a four-panel door, narrow side lights, and a marginally-glazed toplight. Nos. 19 and 25 retain garden paths with diaper-pattern tiles. The interior of the houses has not been inspected.

The terrace is particularly notable for the series of intricately carved stone tympana over the first-floor windows, which illustrate Old Testament scenes. It also retains a complete set of marginally glazed sashes, a relatively rare feature for this late date, along with original doors, side lights, and marginally-glazed over lights. The terrace’s architectural style is simple, conveying a moral flavour appropriate to the biblical theme of the tympana.