Firth House, 22C And 22D Esplanade And 90 Eldon Street, 22B

This is a Tudor Gothic marine villa, constructed in 1847. It occupies a corner site at 22C and 22D Esplanade and 22B Eldon Street. The building is irregular in plan, comprising two and three storeys, and has a stepped frontage formed of gabled blocks, culminating in a three-storey square tower. The main entrance is to the side.

The principal elevation is faced with tooled sandstone ashlar, while the sides and rear are of squared, coursed sandstone. Features include a base course, eaves course, a crenellated parapet to the tower, raised quoin strips, and a mix of transomed and mullioned windows with hoodmoulds to the main windows and raised margins to others.

The north-east (principal) elevation is stepped. A three-storey tower is centrally located, featuring a chamfered corner to the second floor, and contains a two-leaf timber panelled front door with a fanlight in a raised architrave at ground level, and a four-light window at the second floor. A two-storey gable adjoins the tower to the right, with bipartite windows to both floors. A three-storey and attic gable is recessed to the left of the tower, featuring a canted window at ground level, a bipartite window at the second floor, and a small arched window to the attic. A two-storey wing is recessed further to the outer left, with a bipartite window at ground level and a gabled dormer at the first floor.

The south-west (rear) and south-east (side) elevations are characterised by a three-storey gabled block oriented north-east to south-west, with a tripartite window at the second floor of the south-west gable and irregular fenestration to the south-east elevation. A two-storey gable is advanced to the right of this block. A timber panelled front door, set within a stop-chamfered architrave and crenellated porch, is located in the left re-entrant angle. A two-storey L-plan wing is recessed to the left of the three-storey block, and a single-storey, piend-roofed service wing fills the angle. The majority of windows are now of uPVC, although some original plate glass remains in timber sash and case windows. Octagonal sandstone chimney stacks with short clay cans rise above the roof, which is covered in graded grey slate.

The interior is divided into three flats. A half-glazed timber panelled lobby door, with stained glass set within a stop-chamfered ashlar architrave (now painted, with carved rosettes in the upper corners), leads into the building. A curved stone staircase has cast-iron balusters. A decorative, carved timber chimneypiece is found in the first-floor drawing room, along with some decorative plasterwork.

Boundary walls of squared sandstone with ashlar coping enclose the property. Octagonal gatepiers with pyramidal caps mark the entrance from Eldon Street.