Numbers 4 And 5 And Attached Railings

Two semi-detached villas, numbered 4 and 5, now used as a house and flats, were likely built around 1840-50. Architects were probably RW and C Jearrad. The front facade is ashlar over brick, with a slate roof, three tall stacks with cornices, and iron railings. The design is double depth with outer side stairhalls and service rooms in the basement.

The two-storey villas have eight first-floor windows, with the central four-window section projecting forward. A recessed two-window range features a projecting ground-floor porch. Ashlar detailing includes a moulded plinth, quoins, tooled architraves to windows (eared on the first floor, with cornices on consoles and sills to the ground floor), a first-floor moulded sill band, and a cornice. Original windows are mostly 6/6 sashes, taller on the ground floor. Six attic dormers have 2/2 and 3/3 sashes within open-pedimented gables. Number 4 has blind boxes to its ground-floor windows, and the basement windows are also 6/6 sashes. The entrances are similar, with roll-edged steps leading to 6-fielded-panel double doors and fanlights with radial glazing bars, set within a solid porch. The porch features paired Ionic pilasters, a frieze, architrave, and a dentil cornice with a stepped blocking course. Wide eaves are supported by brackets. The side returns have full-height round-arched projections.

The rear elevation features 6/6 sashes, again taller on the ground floor. The two central windows are tripartite sashes between 2/2 sashes. The interior of Number 4 includes an L-shaped reception room, a rear dining room, and a curved open-well staircase with ornate iron balusters and a wreathed handrail. Embellished cornices, ceiling friezes, roses to the ground floor, and some marble fireplaces are present. First-floor bedrooms have dressing rooms, and some windows have shutters. The inner entrance has a 6-panel door with a teardrop motif above the fanlight, and some doors are curved on plan. The interior of Number 5 was not inspected.

Subsidiary features include iron railings with stick balusters to the steps of Number 5 and lattice railings to the right of Number 4. Spearheaded railings run between the houses and across the front boundary of Number 5, while area railings have an X-motif. A ground-floor balcony to the rear of Number 5 features a concentric-circle motif, with stick-balustered steps leading to it from the garden. A balcony to the rear of Number 4 has railings with a scroll motif. The villas form a group with numbers 1 (Douro Lodge), 2, 3, and 6, Douro Road, characterized by a Classical design with Italianate roof and dormer detailing in a symmetrical arrangement of two pairs of semi-detached villas between detached villas.