Statue House, Johnstone Row (Terrace)

Statue House, a pair of houses now combined into a single property, occupies the end of a terrace on Johnstone Row in Weymouth, extending to St Mary Street. Constructed around 1815, the building is a significant example of early 19th-century urban architecture.

The exterior is rendered with a slate roof. The house features three main floors, an attic, and a basement. The west-facing elevation has two flat-roofed dormers above a replacement window at the second floor, over a 12-pane sash, alongside a full-height bowed oriel window with 6:9:6-pane sashes above 8:12:8-pane sashes to the ground and first floors. The basement has a paired sash window behind vertical iron bars beneath the oriel. An original six-panel door, approached by five stone steps with nosings, sits under a painted fanlight within an arched surround of two orders. The building retains more original detail than the six adjacent houses. The rounded northern end is slightly recessed, but the return to St Mary Street steps back behind a flat wall connected to the rear of No.66. The mansard roof is curved and incorporates two flat-roofed dormers.

The north-facing front features a continuous inflected entablature with a dentil cornice, though some parts of the dentil run are broken. Fluted Doric pilasters stand on high pedestals extending to the ground floor level. These cover a blank panel, a boarded-in section, and ornate display bows with 45 panes, positioned either side of a projecting portico. The portico has a large arched 9-pane window facing north, flanked by part-glazed doors with radial fanlights, accessed by flights of five nosed steps enclosed by a pierced stone balustrade. The entablature continues around the portico, which has fluted wooden Doric columns and pilaster responds. A blank panel mirrors the one on the opposite side but includes a low-level inserted door. Basement windows are situated behind vertical iron bars on either side of the portico. A moulded cornice sits above a mid band, leading to a blocking course and coped parapet. The right-hand end terminates in a flat pilaster, returning to the flat rear wall. A prominent ridge stack is located at the rear of the bowed mansard. A single-storey shop unit is attached to the south end, facing St Mary Street, featuring panelled pilasters, consoles with ball finials, cast-iron cresting to the fascia with a moulded cornice, and a central pair of glazed doors.

The interior has been significantly altered and retains little original detail. Statue House, alongside No.1 Coburg Place and the King’s Statue, creates a striking urban composition that provides a suitable setting for the south end of the promenade.