Columbia Place And Attached Area Railings To Numbers 112 And 122

A terrace of six houses, originally named Columbia Place, built between 1824 and 1825 for Thomas Thompson and designed by architect William Jay. Later additions and alterations have occurred. The houses are constructed with stucco over brick, featuring a slate mansard roof and party-wall brick stacks. A cast- and wrought-iron verandah, balustrade, balcony dividers, and basement grilles are also present.

The terrace is two and three storeys high with a basement and attics, and features 1 plus 18 first-floor windows (4 to the left, otherwise 3 per house). The end houses project forward and are three storeys high, topped with pediments. The left end house incorporates a two-storey entrance bay. Stucco detailing includes a first-floor band to the end houses and panelled aprons below the first-floor windows on the left end house. There is a crowning moulded band, cornices, and a coped parapet with stepped panels centrally. The ground floor has tall 1/1 horned sash windows. Original first-floor windows retain a 6/6 pattern; third-floor windows are replacements with 1/1 sashes. A round-arched first-floor window is located on the left-hand side. The entrances are alternately positioned to the left and right, with the right-end house return, leading to steps and six-panel doors (several part-glazed), most with overlights featuring margin-lights. A round-arched recess shelters the left-hand entrance. A first-floor pierced balcony on tall, slender square pillars with incised moulding forms a piazza to the ground floor, running across the centre range and between the end ranges. Flights of steps, roll-edged where original, lead to the piazza in front of the entrances. The attic retains 6/6 windows where original. The rear of the building retains 6/6 sashes, with No. 118 featuring tripartite 6/6 windows between 2/2 sashes.

Inside, a narrow open-well staircase with stick balusters is located on the right-hand side. The interior of the other houses was not inspected.

Subsidiary features include guards to the piazza (some damaged) with an anthemion motif. Grilles conceal the basement area. The parapet features wrought-iron balustrades with a scrolled rose motif between panelled stucco balustrades. First-floor balcony dividers have radial spokes. Area railings are present on the left.

The terrace was formerly known as Columbia Place, named after Thompson’s fortune made supplying cavalry equipment to South American states. Contemporary accounts describe the buildings as gaudy and fantastical, and later as handsome. The terrace's unusual design is distinguished by the loggia and balustrade linking the pedimented outer bays.