19 AND 21, SPA ROAD

A pair of semi-detached houses located on Spa Road, dating from around 1825, with later 19th-century alterations including the addition of verandahs. The houses are constructed of brick, with stuccoed frontages, and have hipped slate roofs and brick stacks. Timber-framed and glazed verandahs were added to the front of the houses, with the roof of the veranda to number 19 retaining original spade-shaped zinc tiles; a later roof is present on number 21.

The plan consists of double-depth blocks, a mirror-image block with a narrow recessed wing on the side of number 19, and rear wings. Late 19th-century additions include single-storey, mirror-image, lean-to verandahs across the front of both houses, with a wide, projecting, cross-gabled bay flanking the entrance to each house at the outer ends of the verandahs.

The main block has a symmetrical three-storey facade, with four bays and a narrow recessed bay on the left-hand side of number 19. The ground floor is obscured by the verandahs. The fronts of the verandahs have timber corner posts and mullions, with a continuous run of tall glazed panels and square panels above, featuring a Chinese pattern of glazing bars in the upper panels, and glazed panels in the gables. Each veranda has an entrance doorway with glazed panel doors and a transom light. A raised band is visible at first-floor level on the main block's front. The upper floors are articulated by a four-bay giant arcade, featuring shallow, plain pilasters and basket arches, and a continuous crowning string course, formerly topped with a cornice and now a coped parapet. Sashes with glazing bars (3x4 panes) are found in the first-floor bays of the main block and the recessed wing of number 19, with sills at the level of the first-floor band. A bow-fronted, decorative wrought-iron guard is present to the opening of the wing. The second floor has sashes with glazing bars (3x4 panes) in openings with projecting stone sills. The interior remains uninspected.