Summary

Two terraces joined by a corner pavilion created as lodging houses in 1869.

Description

Two terraces joined by a corner pavilion created as lodging houses in 1869.

MATERIALS: The terraces are constructed of red brick with gault brick dressings and roofed with Welsh slate (in addition to some replacement areas of concrete tile). Eastleigh is entirely constructed of gault brick and roofed with Welsh slate.

PLAN: An L-shaped development of seven former lodging houses along Victoria Terrace and three along Waterloo Road, joined at the corner by the larger pavilion called Eastleigh.

EXTERIOR: The terraces are all three storeys high with basements and attics. They have alternating pairs of two-storey canted bay windows and ground floor porches, one to each house. The porches have keyed segmental brick arches and pilasters with encaustic tiles. The polychromatic brickwork is highly decorative and is different at each floor, culminating in a patterned frieze beneath deep projecting eaves. There is an end chimney stack and a single attic dormer to each house, the latter with segmental roofs. Along Waterloo Road, the first floors of the bay windows have miniature cast-iron balconies.

Eastleigh stands at the corner of the two terraces and has the only hipped roof. The entrance is on Waterloo Road and features a prominent rusticated archway at its ground floor porch. There are three bays to the south elevation, two to the east, and a rounded corner bay glazed with curving sashes flanked with side lights. The remaining fenestration is varied and survives well.

History

The medieval town of Lowestoft underwent a dramatic expansion over the course of the C19. In the first half of the century, a harbour had been created alongside a man-made waterway connecting it to Lake Lothing. Sir Samuel Morton Peto (1809-1889) recognised the town's potential development for industrial and leisure purposes and as a port for Norwich. Peto employed the architect John Louth Clemence to assist him in developing a master plan for a resort focused along Lowestoft's South Beach. Peto was a highly successful contractor for railways and public works, remembered particularly as a railway pioneer and identified by Brunel as the largest contractor in the world. By the mid-1860s Peto was entangled in the collapse of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway company which resulted in his bankruptcy. Despite Peto's departure, South Lowestoft flourished and continued to develop as a resort.

16-28 Victoria Terrace and Eastleigh, 9, 10 and 11 Waterloo Road were constructed in 1869 as a single development. They were intended to be used as lodging houses specifically for the seaside leisure market. The incomplete brickwork of the front elevation of 9 Waterloo Road suggests that the terrace was originally expected to continue further to the west.

By the early C21, the buildings had been converted to become residential flats rather than lodging houses and many have undergone alteration, including the loss of much of their original fenestration.

The identity of the architect has not been established, but the buildings have stylistic affinities (such as sash windows with margin lights, pedimented bay windows, and the rusticated ground floor of Eastleigh) with the work of John Louth Clemence.

Reasons for Listing

16-28 Victoria Terrace, Eastleigh, and 9-11 Waterloo Road are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the visual richness of their detailing, including polychromatic brickwork, asymmetrical elevations, encaustic tile and varied building heights.

Historic interest:

* for their illustrative value as purpose-built mid-C19 lodging houses designed for the burgeoning Victorian seaside holiday industry.

Group value:

* for their proximity to and strong visual relationship with Wellington Esplanade.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26580421

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)