Higher Terrace And Attached Front Railings

A terrace of nine houses built between 1811 and designed by Jacob Harvey, forming an early part of Sir Lawrence Palk's development of Torquay. The terrace is situated high above the harbour, facing south, and is now used as offices. The building is constructed with plastered facades and slate roofs, featuring stacks with rendered shafts. The design is in a classical style, with a slightly bowed front, and the central and end houses project forward. Each house is double-depth on plan, with entrances positioned to the right of the left-hand houses and to the left of the right-hand houses. The end houses are entered from the returns. The terrace has three storeys and a basement, topped by a deep projecting cornice followed by a plain parapet. Some later attic additions have been made. Each house has three bays, except for the centrally located number 50, which has five. A continuous cast-iron balcony with an interlace balustrade, divided by panels of roundels, runs along the front. Round-headed doorways have moulded architraves, "Gibbs" surrounds with rusticated detailing and keyblocks featuring carved or cast heads. Original six-panel doors are mostly present, often with plain fanlights; number 46 has a particularly attractive lead fanlight with a central roundel that echoes those found on Beacon Terrace, also designed by Harvey. The ground-floor windows have been reglazed with two panes, whilst the first-floor windows retain twelve panes, and those on the second floor have a three-over-six sash configuration. Number 42 features a particularly large doorway on the west end with a rusticated architrave, incised moulding, and a Greek key moulding. Number 58 incorporates a porch block from the 1860s with a projecting cornice and parapet, topped with cast-iron detailing. A first-floor canted bay on the return of number 58 leads to the flat roof of the porch. Numbers 50 and 58 have square-headed doorways with moulded architraves and keyblocks on the front. Partial inspections of the interiors reveal some houses retaining good plasterwork cornices with deep relief, particularly at numbers 42, 48, and 50, and some retain ground floor internal partitions with an archway. Good cast-iron basement railings with spear finials are also present. The terrace is historically important in the development of Torquay, as evidenced by early prints.