Nos 116 And 118 Including Front Garden Walls And Gatepiers

Nos. 116 and 118 Fortuneswell, Portland

A pair of attached houses dating to the early 19th century, set back from the road on the steeply sloping land of Fortuneswell, the principal settlement on the Isle of Portland. The houses are depicted on the 1841 Tithe Map, though their exact date of construction is unknown.

The buildings are constructed of coursed Portland stone rubble which is rendered, except for the rear of No. 116. The roof is covered with stone-coped asbestos slate, with a brick ridge and end stacks. Each house follows a four-unit plan with a rear outshut. A detached shop, built between 1892 and 1903 within the former garden of No. 116 and fronting onto the road, is not of special interest.

The principal south-west elevation of each house is double-fronted with a central entrance fitted with 20th-century doors. The fenestration is of various dates and styles. No. 116 has late-20th-century French doors flanking the doorway, which according to historic photographs replace similar earlier doors. Above these are two uPVC windows and a roof dormer. The rear of No. 116 retains early-19th-century six-over-six-pane hornless sash windows, a horizontal-sliding sash with glazing bars, and a small fixed window of 20th-century date. The windows to the front of No. 118 are mostly late-19th-century in date, with a late-20th-century uPVC dormer. The rear elevation has late-20th-century timber casements.

The interior retains the original plan form and circulation largely intact. Historic features survive throughout, including staircases with stick balusters and turned newels, mostly four-panelled doors with architraves, simple cornicing in places, and early-19th-century timber fireplace surrounds, though the fireplaces themselves have been blocked.

No. 118 retains its front garden walls which extend to the roadside boundary wall, featuring a central entrance with pyramidal caps to the piers flanking the central steps, a similar right end pier, and a tall left pier with ball finial. Both houses have small outbuildings in their rear yards, probably wash-houses, constructed of large blocks of Portland stone and built against the rear retaining wall with monopitch roofs. The outbuilding to No. 116 retains a copper for heating water.