Numbers 31 To 42 And Attached Railings

Numbers 31 to 42 are a terrace of 12 houses with attached railings, built between 1834 and 1837, likely designed by Robert Stokes. Number 36 was rebuilt to the rear around 1970. The houses are constructed with stucco over brick and have slate roofs, with tall brick and stucco party-wall stacks topped with cornices, and feature iron balconies, a verandah, and railings.

The central six houses are three stories high, with three houses on either end of two stories, all built on basements. There are 24 first-floor windows (two per house), along with service ranges to the rear. The houses at each end project forward. Stucco detailing includes horizontal rustication to the ground floor, drawn into voussoirs over windows; a plat band on the first floor; an architrave, frieze, and cornice above that floor, with a blocking course to the outer ranges. The central block has a further architrave, frieze, cornice, and blocking course above the second floor.

First-floor windows are primarily tall 6/6 sashes; second-floor windows are 3/6 sashes. Ground-floor windows are tripartite sashes, with 6/6 panes between 2/2 panes with cambered heads, except for numbers 31 to 33, which have been infilled to the head. Blind boxes remain on the ground and first floors of numbers 31, 32, and 33, and on the first floor of number 38. Basement windows are mostly 8/8 and 6/6 sashes.

Entrances, with flights of roll-edged steps leading to 3-panel doors with overlights featuring glazing bars, are located on the left and right of each house. The rear of the terrace retains many 6/6 sashes, and some 8/8 sashes; one tripartite window to number 32 features 6/6 panes between 2/2 sashes.

Photographs taken around 1990 of number 34 show embellished cornices with acanthus leaves and an additional foliate frieze to the ceiling; the interior of the other houses has not been inspected.

The railings are lancet-style with trefoil finials to the stanchions along the sides of the steps and forecourt railings, present on numbers 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39. Continuous balconies to numbers 34 and 38 have a Carron Company heart-and-anthemion motif, the one at number 38 being supported by tall iron posts with a scroll frieze. Similar individual balconies are present on numbers 37 and 39, and a similar verandah with a tent roof adorns number 36, incorporating scrolls on the uprights. Numbers 40, 41, and 42 feature diamond-lattice motifs on their window guards. Ground-floor window boxes on numbers 40, 41, and 42 have scroll, circle, and flower motifs. Number 32 has a ground-floor balcony with an intersecting scroll motif and a first-floor balcony with a heart-and-anthemion. Number 34 has a first-floor balcony with a cross motif.

The terrace was built as part of the development of the area undertaken for Joseph Pitt between 1825 and 1842, with the general layout designed by architect John Forbes. Clarence Square was laid out in the late 1820s, and building began in 1832. The square was named after the Duke of Clarence, who later became William IV in 1830.