St Mary'S Rectory

St Mary's Rectory, Harley Street: Two Terrace Houses

Two terrace houses, dated around 1817 with twentieth-century additions. The buildings are constructed in limestone ashlar to front and rear elevations.

The roofscape is complex. The left house (No.6) has a double-pitched parapeted roof with Welsh slate covering. The right house (No.5) is similarly double-pitched and parapeted to the left portion, while the right portion features Welsh slate to the front roof and double Roman tiles, with the rear roof now flat behind the parapet. Ashlar chimney stacks with some early clay pots are positioned on the front roofs of both houses, on coped party walls. A small ashlar stack with an early clay pot sits on the front roof of No.6, also on the coped party wall. Staircases are located to the rear.

Each house comprises three storeys plus basement, with a two-window range. The right house (No.5) was formerly divided into two properties. It features two six-over-six sashes with wrought iron balconettes to the first floor in plain reveals. The second floor has two eight-over-eight sashes in plain reveals with stone sills. The ground floor has two six-over-six horned sashes in plain reveals with stone sills, flanking a six-panel door with reeded and fielded panels and a single glazed panel. The door sits in a plain reveal with a Pennant step. A blocked former doorway lies to the right. Slit openings in the pavement and plinth below the ground floor windows indicate the positions of basement openings. A chamfered plinth runs from ground level to the left, accommodating a steep fall in ground to the right. A weathered sill course marks the first floor, with a moulded eaves cornice and coped parapet, though the cornice does not extend to the full width of the building to the left.

The left house (No.6) has two six-over-six sashes with wrought iron balconettes to the first floor in plain reveals. The second floor has two six-over-six sashes in plain reveals with stone sills. The ground floor features an eight-over-eight sash to the right with narrower panes to left and right, in a plain reveal with stone sill. To the centre left is a shallow round-headed recessed panel, probably originally intended to contain a doorway opening. A six-panel door with beaded and fielded panels with voided corners and glazed panels stands to the far left in a deep plain reveal. The basement has an eight-over-eight sash in a plain reveal with timber lintel, partially above ground level. A deep plinth to the left of the door and a plinth to the right, starting just above pavement level to accommodate the steep fall of ground to the right, are features of this elevation. A weathered sill band marks the first floor, with moulded eaves cornice and coped parapet.

To the left side is an unfinished termination of front, rear and side walls, with two ashlar chimney breasts containing fireplace openings to the first and second floors.

Rear elevations retain glazing bar sashes to No.6 and the first floor of No.5. Other windows are nineteenth century or small twentieth-century insertions. Part of Nos.5 and 6 have a deeper plan than No.5 to the right. A small rendered extension sits in the angle of an offset. A small ashlar porch with double Roman tiles on a lean-to roof is positioned against the garden wall, sheltering a six-panel rear door to No.6.

The interiors were not inspected during the survey.

These houses form part of the development of land conveyed to Fielder, King, Hewlett and Broome by Sir Peter Rivers Gay on 25 March 1790, on which St James's Square and adjoining streets were built. This plot remained undeveloped until 1817, when Manners' New and Correct Plan of Bath shows houses on the sites of Nos.3–6, with Portland Chapel opposite.