Belvidere (Terrace)

Belvidere Terrace, Weymouth

A terrace of 16 consecutive houses (Nos. 116–131) on the Esplanade, begun in 1818 and completed in 1855. The building is constructed of brick, much of it rendered, with a slate roof.

The terrace is organised as a unified composition beneath a double-ridge roof with a central valley gutter. Each unit is typically two rooms deep with a dogleg stair to one side and a small rear service wing. Exceptions are Nos. 127 and 128, which are noticeably deeper than the rest. Articulation is provided by stepping forward the central pair of houses and two houses at each end. Various rear wings have been added later.

The front elevation presents 3 storeys, an attic and basement (becoming a full 4 storeys at the lower rear). Each house displays 2 flat-roofed 6-pane sash dormer windows, except Nos. 118, 123 and 125, which have gabled Victorian dormers. The parapet has been cut down in front of the dormers to Nos. 120, 122, 123, 125, 127 and 129.

Below the dormers, each house has 3 windows, all sashes: 12-pane at second floor, 15-pane to the first floor opening onto a continuous balcony, arched 12-pane to the ground floor, and 16-pane to the basement. Glazing bars survive in varying degrees: second-floor to Nos. 112, 116 and 118; first-floor to Nos. 118, 126 and 127; ground-floor to Nos. 116, 117, 124 and 125; and basement to all except 117, 119, 123, 125 and 128. No. 124 has had a shop front inserted. Windows are generally set in plain reveals, but the centre window at first-floor level to each house is flanked by thin pilasters supporting consoles beneath a moulded cornice.

The entrance to each house consists of a 6-panelled door with side lights and a radial fanlight, approached via 6 steps with nosings. Most doors retain spearhead cast-iron railings returning either side of the steps, and gates to basement-area steps. The ground floor is channelled stone beneath a balcony on brackets, with cast-iron trellis-pattern balustrade. The second-floor windows sit on a sill band. A moulded cornice, blocking course and parapet complete the main elevation. Deep brick stacks rise from each ridge, with further stacks flush to the rear wall of Nos. 118–124.

The left return elevation is plain, with paired stacks joined by a flat parapet and a central sash window at second-floor level. A lower hipped wing is set back to the left. The right return is likewise plain, with small paired stacks joined by a flat parapet, a wide central blank panel with an arched head, flanked to the left by 2 blind lights and to the right by 12-pane sashes. The basement level here is in ashlar, with a small central light. A low hipped 3-storey rear wing with a 2-storey canted oriel extends from this elevation.

The back wall is principally brickwork, some laid in English garden wall bond (5 courses of stretchers to 1 course of headers), retaining many original dormers behind a continuous parapet. These dormers include sashes and various glazing-bar sashes, including an arched sash with radial bars to the lower-level staircase. Various wings, some of original date and many containing glazing-bar sashes, are disposed to the rear. Nos. 127 and 128, with their extra depth and rendered walls, are prominent features.

The interior was not inspected.

The terrace remains generally well retained externally, though rendering of the fronts has compromised some of its homogeneity. Only one shop intrusion has been made, and the railings and balcony remain in place. Despite the long building period spanning over three decades, no noticeable changes in architectural detail are evident.