48, Arwenack Street

A pair of town houses, dating to the 1770s, now used as an office. They were built for George Croker Fox (1727-1782). The houses are constructed of red brick on a rubble base, with a granite ashlar plinth and basement. They have a scantle slate hipped roof. The plan is double-depth, with a wing extending at the rear left. The buildings are three storeys high, with a basement, and have a symmetrical front of two bays, a central bay, and then two bays again. Mid-floor brick string courses and a modillion cornice run to a brick parapet, except over the central bay, which has a turned balustrade. Flat brick arches with granite keys feature over original 12-pane hornless sash windows, including three sashes to each floor of the central canted bay; squat three-pane basement windows are also present. The doorways have open-pedimented, half-column pilastered surrounds, panelled reveals, round-arched cobweb fanlights, panelled doors, granite steps, and wreathed wrought-iron handrails. The interior retains some original features, including a moulded ceiling cornice in a ground-floor room, and an open-well staircase with an open string and a ramped mahogany handrail. Mahogany doors and panelled window shutters are present in the first-floor front rooms. This is an unusually early example of a semi-detached plan with a unified “palace” front and is part of an important group of 18th and early 19th century buildings.