Union Terrace

A terrace of six houses, built around 1810, located on Litchdon Street, Barnstaple. The houses were originally conceived as a symmetrical design, later partly converted into flats. The terrace is constructed with smooth rendering, topped with natural slate roofs punctuated by gabled ends. Stacks feature brick and rendered shafts, alongside old terracotta chimney pots, complemented by cast-iron rainwater goods. The central two houses present a taller roofline and are treated as a single entity, marked by left and right pilasters, a moulded cornice beneath the parapet, and an eight-bay Doric verandah with a balcony. This balcony features heart-shaped panels with an anthemion motif incorporated into the railings. The front doors of the central houses have six fielded panels and fanlights with spider-web glazing bars. Flanking these are round-headed niches, with similar niches positioned at each end of the terrace. The central section retains an original eight over twelve-pane sash window. Four French windows open onto the balcony, featuring glazing bars and margin panes, while four first-floor windows are twelve-pane sashes.

The flanking blocks, each comprising two houses, are entered from the returns. The inner house of each pair displays channelled rustication on the ground floor and has a front door toward the centre, featuring six fielded panels and a spoke-glazed fanlight. A four-bay Chinese Chippendale timber verandah is present on the ground floor, with lattice iron railings above. The first-floor verandah, five bays in width (number 2 is glazed in), has a lead tent roof and French windows. The outer houses (numbers 1 and 6) also have Chinese Chippendale verandahs and ground-floor lattice iron railings. Number 1 displays six over nine-pane sashes on the ground floor, along with twelve-pane first-floor sashes, and a modern entrance on its return. Number 6 features sixteen-pane ground-floor sashes, French windows onto the balcony, sixteen-pane second-floor sashes, and a projecting porch on the right return with fluted pilasters and a pedimented gable. The doorcase has panelled reveals and a spoke-glazed fanlight. A two-light Gothic arched window is located in the right gable. The interior of the terrace has not been inspected but is likely to retain features of interest. The terrace shows similarities to numbers 3-11 Taw Vale Parade.