Description

TORQUAY

SX9163 THE TERRACE 885-1/17/263 (North side) 20/11/52 Nos.42-58 (Even) Higher Terrace and attached front railings (Formerly Listed as: HIGHER TERRACE, THE TERRACE Nos.42-58 (Even))

GV II

Terrace of 9 houses. 1811 to the designs of Jacob Harvey. The earliest part of Sir Lawrence Palk's development of Torquay. Some later alterations. Houses in use as offices. Plastered; slate roofs; stacks with rendered shafts. Classical style. PLAN: Slightly bowed terrace, set high above the harbour, facing south. Centre and end houses broken forward. Each house double-depth on plan. Those to left of centre have entrances to the right, those to right of centre have entrances to the left. Several houses have rear stair projections; services in basement; principal rooms on first floor. End houses entered on the returns. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and basement. Deep projecting cornice with plain parapet above. Some unfortunate attic additions. Each house has a 3-bay front except for the 5-bay No.50. Continuous cast-iron balcony with interlace balustrade divided by vertical panels of roundels. Round-headed doorway with moulded architrave. Gibbs surrounds with vermiculated rustication and keyblocks with carved or cast heads; panelled reveals. Original doors 6-panel, mostly with plain fanlights (No.46 has a pretty lead fanlight with a central roundel, similar to those on Beacon Terrace, also designed by Harvey). Segmental-headed windows: ground floor originally 12-pane but reglazed as 2-pane sashes. 12-pane first-floor windows, 3 over 6 on the second floor. No.42 has a very large doorway on the 3-bay west end with rusticated vermiculated architrave, incised moulding to soffit and reveals of doorcase and Greek key moulding below fanlight. 2-leaf door of 6 panels, upper panels with roundels and lozenges; windows mostly original. No.58 has a flat-roofed porch block on the return, c1860, with a projecting cornice and parapet crowned with good cast-iron parapet. Segmental-headed doorway to right. c1860s first-floor canted bay on return leads on to flat roof of porch block. No.50 (in the centre) and No.58 have square-headed doorways on the front with moulded architraves with keyblocks INTERIOR: Partially inspected. Some houses retain good plasterwork cornices with deep relief, including Nos 42, 48, 50. Some retain the ground floor internal partitions with an archway between the 2 rooms. Other features of interest likely to survive but not seen on survey. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Good cast-iron railings with spear finials to basements. HISTORY: An elegant terrace and historically important in the development of Torquay. Early prints, some reproduced in Ellis, show the higher terrace. (Ellis CA: An Historical Survey of Torquay, 2nd edition: 1930-: P.339, 340, 341; Buildings of England: Cherry B: Devon: London: 1952-1989: P.857).

Listing NGR: SX9192963570

External Links

• Wikidata Q26569191

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