31-40, ST JAMES'S PARADE

Ten terrace houses on the north-east side of St James's Parade, now redeveloped as flats with a single main entrance to the whole block, dating from 1768. Probably designed by Thomas Jelly and John Palmer, although numbers 39 and 40 may be by John Eveleigh.

The houses are constructed in limestone ashlar with the ground floor painted. Numbers 31 to 37 have pantiled roofs while numbers 38 to 40 are covered with Welsh slate. The building presents three storeys with an attic and basement. The basement is completely below street level. The terrace displays a complex fenestration pattern with one window, eight windows, and two windows at first floor level across the whole row (number 31 has two). Ground floor windows are single or paired sashes except number 31, which has a small-paned shop window recessed below the lintel. A first floor platband steps between numbers 36 and 37. Doors feature six-panel designs in pedimented Roman Doric surrounds, except numbers 39 and 40. First floor windows are Venetian with sills on console brackets and cornice hoods, except numbers 31 and 40. Second floor windows are tripartite sashes except for numbers 31 and 40. A modillion cornice, also stepped between numbers 36 and 37, sits above a parapet. The roof is mansard with dormers and an ashlar stack with pots to the right.

Number 31 is wedge-shaped with a recessed small-paned shop window at ground floor and entrance on the left. The corner to the right has a six/six sash in an architrave surround. The first floor contains two six/six sashes in architrave surrounds with cornice heads and console-bracketed sills, with a blind window of the same type at the corner. The second floor follows the first floor pattern but without cornice heads and brackets. A paired dormer with plain sashes and a tall stack around the corner complete this elevation. The Wine Street elevation has a plain window on each floor.

Number 32 has two/two sashes to the ground floor with standard windows above but without glazing bars, and two dormers with plain sashes. Number 33 has two/two sashes to the ground floor, flanked by four/four sashes on the upper floors with six/six sashes centrally. A paired dormer has three/six sashes. A bust of Britannia, repaired in 1981, sits above the entrance. Number 34 has eight/eight sashes to the ground floor with windows matching number 33 above. Numbers 35 and 36 follow number 34, although number 36 has an iron balconette on the first floor. Number 37 follows number 33 but has paired plain sashes to the ground floor and plain sashes to two separate dormers. Number 38 resembles number 37 but with six/six sashes to the ground floor. Number 39 follows number 37 but has a single plain dormer and a paired pedimented doorcase shared with number 40. The half-columns feature "Tower of the Winds" capitals. Number 40 is wedge-shaped, with the street front containing a plain sash and doorway shared with number 39 above. Upper windows match number 31. Two plain dormers and an end elevation with a plain sash to the ground floor and plain six/six sashes above complete the design. A stack is located to the rear.

Interior inspection was not undertaken, but previous site visit notes record the following: number 31 is much altered; number 32 retains stairs and cornices; number 33 has lost its stairs; number 34 has lost its stairs; number 35 has closed-string stairs; number 36 has lost its stairs; number 37 has closed-string stairs and some cornices; number 38 has a surviving staircase in part with modillion cornices; number 39 has an open-string stair, cornices, and doors.

St James's Parade, originally known as Thomas Street, was the centrepiece of a development from 1765 onwards by Richard Jones, Thomas Jelly and Henry Fisher, who were granted liberty in September 1765 to pull down the Borough walls next to the Ambry gardens to build new houses there. The street was closed off with bollards at each end, and the houses fronted a broad paved walk in place of the road. The elevations, attributed to Thomas Jelly and John Palmer, show the influence of John Wood the Younger's work elsewhere, as seen in Rivers Street. The houses were mainly built circa 1768. The design closely resembles John Wood the Younger's houses in Brock Street and elsewhere. Following bomb damage in the area, extensive clearance and redevelopment took place. St James's Parade, after an uncertain period, was reprieved.