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Summary

Description

Sir James Gowans, 1868-70 (dated 1868). 4 storey, attic and basement mansard-roofed corner block (3 bays to Castle Terrace, 3 bays to Cornwall Street, narrow splayed corner bay with narrow windows, battered to basement) with idiosyncratic detailing, including Moorish influence. Polished ashlar. String courses dividing floors; stone bracketed eaves. Decorative bracketed surrounds to windows. Serrated Moorish carving to lintels of 1st floor windows. Round-arched windows to 3rd floor push up bracketed eaves below dormers.

CASTLE TERRACE ELEVATION: stone steps and platts over-arching basement area to centre; timber panelled door with deeply recessed tripartite fanlight flanked by side-lights (leaded stained glass) in carved surround; hooded Serliana to attic. Flanking canted bays with Serliana to ground, tripartite windows with decorative stone mullions above; steeply-pitched gabled dormers to attic with stone bracketed eaves, flanked by small hooded dormers.

CORNWALL STREET ELEVATION: stone steps and platts over-arching basement area to centre; timber panelled door with round-arched fanlight in round-arched glazed doorpiece with flanking side-lights in recess with serrated carved decoration in spandrels; hooded dormer to attic. Projecting flanking bays with Serliana to ground, tripartite windows with decorative stone mullions above; hooded Serliana to attic.

Plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Graded grey slates. Moulded stone ridge. Fluted ashlar stalks with scalloped, bracketed cornices; decorative octagonal cans with serrated tops.

BOUNDARY WALL AND RAILINGS: decorative cast-iron railings on low ashlar boundary wall with stone piers marking corners and entrances.

Statement of Special Interest

Part of a larger ensemble designed by Gowans: with characteristically logical planning, idiosyncratic detailing and exemplary execution. Design based on multiples of 2 ft and angles of 22.5, 45 and 67.5 degrees. 'The Builder' admires Gowans' plan, with 'the water closets all ventilated from the outside,' and 'dark bedrooms at the centre of corner blocks got rid of,' but cannot reconcile itself to the 'geometric details,' considering 'novelty its only merit,' the details 'more suited for execution in wood,' while admitting the general effect to be 'striking and picturesque.' The ground on the opposite side of Castle Terrace, where the multi-storey car park now is, was to be a public boulevard, the rest railed off and laid out as garden ground for residents. The A Group comprises 11-15 Cornwall Street, 25 Castle Terrace and 17 Cornwall Street, 26-28 Castle Terrace, 29 Castle Terrace, 30, 31 and 32 Castle Terrace, 33, 34 and 35 Castle Terrace and 36 Castle Terrace.

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