443-451, CHRISTCHURCH ROAD

A terrace of five houses located on Christchurch Road in Boscombe, Bournemouth, built in 1899 by J.H. Brewerton for the Rev. H. Ebben. The houses are constructed of brick, with the upper levels rendered and brick detailing retained as quoins. They have a cross-gabled plain tile roof, with 20th-century replacement tiles on numbers 445 and 449, and brick stacks. The design follows double-depth plans and stands three storeys high with an attic. The architectural style is Free Style, notable for paired Flemish gables flanking a corner tower on Wharncliffe Road. The Christchurch Road elevation features alternating Flemish-gabled bays with bays roofed parallel to the street, characterized by brackets supporting broad projecting eaves. The stacks are an integral part of the building's composition. The Christchurch Road elevation has a 3:2:2:2:2 window arrangement, with floating cornices above the attic casements, which are 2-light. The upper sashes of the paired windows are divided with 2x2 glazing bars. Plate-glass windows with top-hung 8-pane lights are found in the canted 2-storey bay windows and above the doorways. Half-glazed doors with overlights are set behind open porches featuring Tuscan columns and nowy-headed pediments. The attic dormers have 3-light casements. A similar window arrangement is present on the corner tower and on the return elevation facing Wharncliffe Road. The interior has not been inspected. The terrace represents an early and significant example of applying Free Style design to Domestic Revival architecture.