No.17 And Attached Railings

No. 17 Portland Place is a house, built around 1786 and now used as flats. It is of group value. The front is constructed of limestone ashlar, with rubble stonework beneath the basement windows and at the rear. The roof is a mansard style with Welsh slate tiles, with larger slates at the rear. The house is double-pile and parapeted. It sits at the corner of Portland Place and Burlington Street, featuring a wide frontage on Portland Place and a narrower return to Burlington Street, tapering to a wedge-shaped rear elevation. A central staircase runs along the front of the house.

The Portland Place frontage is three storeys high, with an attic, basement, and a lower sub-basement. It has a four-window front; the first floor has four six-pane sash windows set in plain reveals, with wrought iron balconettes to the left and paired windows with a similar continuous balconette to the right. The second floor mirrors the first, with four similar six-pane sash windows also within plain reveals. The ground floor has a six-pane sash window to the left, and paired six-pane sash windows to the right, all with stone sills. A six-panel door with flush beaded and fielded panels, and glazed sections, is contained within a pedimented Doric doorcase featuring full round columns bearing the incised numeral ‘17’ and a wrought iron lamp bracket with leaf decoration. Steps lead to a paved crossover. The basement windows similarly feature six-pane sashes and stone sills, with sub-basement openings visible beneath the windows. Two double dormers are visible on the roof, each with a six-pane sash window. Architectural details include a band course above the ground floor, weathered sill bands to the first and second floors, a modillion eaves cornice, and a rendered coped parapet, all of which continue onto the narrow return elevation. The rear elevation has grouped plate glass horned sash windows on all three floors, with a triple dormer containing two-pane sashes.

The interior was not inspected, but it is noted to contain a cantilevered stone staircase with a moulded soffit. The property is accompanied by attached wrought iron railings and a gate with urn tops and a finial to the left of the crossover; these are missing to the right, and sit on limestone bases. The property’s history is linked to that of 1-10 Portland Place.