Numbers 2 To 7 And Attached Railings To Numbers 3, 4 And 7

Numbers 2 to 7 Clarence Road form a terrace of six houses, with number 6 now used as an office. They were built around 1831-32, and are likely the work of either John Forbes or WA Watson. The houses are constructed of stucco over brick, with a slate roof, stucco party-wall stacks, and iron railings.

The houses are two storeys high, with a basement, and originally had twelve first-floor windows (two windows per house). Number 2 projects forward. The stucco detailing includes wide, segmentally-arched shallow recesses on the ground floor (except for number 2), with horizontal rustication to number 7 drawn into the voussoirs above the recess. The first floor features a continuous sill band, interrupted at number 5, surmounted by Tuscan pilasters between the windows, with paired pilasters at numbers 2 and 7. A crowning frieze and cornice, topped with a blocking course, completes the exterior. The first-floor windows are predominantly 6/6 sash windows, while the ground-floor windows are tripartite sashes in the recesses, mostly with a 6/6 pane between two 2/2 panes (some 1/1 panes are also present). Number 2 has a 1/1 sash window. Basement windows are original 4/8, 6/6, and 8/8 sashes. Windows are set in plain reveals, with sills to the ground-floor windows. The entrances have flights of steps leading to 5- and 6-panel doors, some of which retain decorative upper raised-and-fielded panels, lower flush panels, and overlights with decorative glazing. Doors to numbers 2, 3, and 4 are positioned on the left-hand side, while the others are on the right.

The interiors retain original joinery and plasterwork; number 4 is particularly well-preserved, featuring a dogleg staircase with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail.

The attached iron railings include arrowhead designs with anthemions to the stanchions, with lancet and spearhead railings across the front of numbers 4 and 7. Number 3 has a scrolled lozenge balustrade to the front. These houses were built as part of a development undertaken for Joseph Pitt between 1825 and 1842, the general layout designed by architect John Forbes. Number 4 is now the Holst birthplace Museum, as the composer Gustave Holst was born there in 1874. The terrace forms a group with Bilbrook House in Winchcombe Street, number 1 Clarence Road, and number 59 Portland Street.