Maitland (Number 18) And Upnor (Number 19) And Attached Railings

A pair of semi-detached villas, numbers 18 and 19, were constructed in 1836, with subsequent additions and alterations. The buildings are stucco over brick, featuring a hipped slate roof, stuccoed end and party-wall stacks, iron railings, and verandahs. The plan is double depth, with outer side hallways.

Architecturally, the villas are two storeys over a basement, with attics, and have six first-floor windows (arranged 3:3). Stucco detailing includes full-height pilasters on the outer and party walls, which break the first-floor band, and further pilasters through the basement and ground floors between the windows. The windows are set within tooled architraves and incorporate 6/6 sashes, taller to the ground floor, all in plain reveals with sills. The basement windows are 8/8 sashes. A crowning frieze and cornice top the facades. Elliptically-arched entrances have recessed 5-panel doors with sidelights and overlights featuring lattice glazing bars. Attic dormers contain casement windows and 2/2 sashes.

The ground floor verandahs sit on plinths and are distinguished by Carron Company double-heart-and-anthemion motif balustrades and scrolled lozenge motifs to the uprights, surmounted by tent roofs. Railings to the sides of the steps have stick balusters, with renewed spearhead railings also present. The interior of the buildings has not been inspected.

The property was built as part of a wider development undertaken for Joseph Pitt between 1825 and 1842, with the general layout designed by the architect John Forbes. The buildings contribute to a cohesive group of listed buildings laid out around a central grassed area within Wellington Square.