Edwards Homes

A group of five almshouses built in 1894 for Sir Henry Edwards. The buildings are constructed of broadmayne brick with Portland stone dressings and have slate roofs with scalloped clay ridges. They are designed in a Tudor Revival style.

The almshouses are arranged in a T-shaped block for Nos 1-3, with a projecting gable on the left-hand end, connected to Nos 4 & 5 by a low screen wall containing a doorway. Each unit is two storeys high and has a single window. The windows are 3-light casements with stone transoms and mullions, featuring alternating flush jamb-stones and plain lintels. Ground-floor windows have small stone labels that extend over the doors of Nos 4 & 5. The upper casements contain small-scale diamond cast-iron lights, while the lower windows have small rectangular panes. The doors, accessed by stone steps, are paired for Nos 4 & 5 and feature three small panels below glazed lights to 4-centred heads, beneath a deep transom light with diagonal panes. A rock-faced stone plinth runs along the base, with a thin moulding approximately 600mm above and a matching sill band at first-floor level. The gables have a blind lancet window with stone head and sill, and are coped with kneelers and roll-mould saddle-stones. Raised coped verges are present at the party walls and end gable. The brick stacks have high stone cappings with crenellations. The doors to Nos 1 & 2 are in the internal angle, sharing a slated porch supported by Portland stone brackets. Above each door is a Portland stone recessed panel bearing the monogram "EH" topped by a lion's head, with a label having a raised centre. A brick screen wall with stone coping and a plank door is located between Nos 3 & 4. The building retains original cast-iron down-pipes and hopper-heads, as well as ovolo-mould gutters. The interior was not inspected.

Sir Henry Edwards, who was mayor of Weymouth and a Member of Parliament, was a significant benefactor to the town. These almshouses are highly detailed and remain externally largely unaltered. They are part of a larger group including Nos 10-14 James Street, and a further group dating from 1896, in similar detail, located in Rodwell Avenue.