The Beeches (Number 22) And Bicknor (Number 23)

The Beeches (number 22) and Bicknor (number 23) are a pair of semi-detached villas, now a house on the left and flats on the right, dating to approximately 1823-34. Later 19th-century additions and alterations have been made, including a range to the left. The buildings are constructed of ashlar and stucco over brick, with a concealed roof and stucco end and ridge stacks.

The main range is double-depth, with a stairwell between the front and rear rooms. The exterior is three storeys high with a basement, featuring five first-floor windows, flanked by two-storey entrance bays, and a two-storey bay set back to the left. The end bays of the main range project and feature pilasters extending through the ground and first floors, topped by a continuous entablature, with further pilasters to the second floor and a crowning entablature with a blocking course. Ashlar detailing includes tooled architraves to windows, with friezes and cornices to the ground-floor windows. The windows are mostly 6/6 sashes, with a tripartite window featuring 2/2 sashes to the left-hand, set-back bay at ground floor. Basement windows are 8/8 sashes, all within plain reveals and with sills.

The left entrance is via an open Doric porch with triglyphs and metopes, surmounted by a first-floor window; it features an 8-panel door with an overlight. The right entrance has a similar 8-panel door with sidelights and an overlight within a round-arched arcade.

Internally, No.22 retains original features, including an open-well staircase with rod-and-bobbin balusters. Plasterwork features deep friezes and ceiling roses. Joinery includes panelled shutters to windows with tooled surrounds and architraves to doors with a Greek key motif and cornices. A room in the left-hand addition has a cornice decorated with grapes and shields, and a white marble fireplace.

Suffolk Square was developed on land originally owned by the Earl of Suffolk, following sales by his daughter to James Fisher from 1823. The buildings are part of a notable group within Suffolk Square, as shown on Merrett’s 1834 Map.