Photo by: J Bar licenced under (CC-SA)

Magnolia Flats: 272-282 Bridge Road. Forest Lodge, New South Wales.

Magnolia Flats (formerly Magnolia Terrace) is a row of five three storey Victorian terrace houses (with English style basements) in Forest Lodge.

The signage on the central parapet has the name and date (1885).

The most interesting aspect of this terrace is the large driveway arch at the end terrace which would have once let horses to back stables.  The end terrace has rooms extending over this arch and the party wall extends to the street as a gate post with an urn to allow for a complete, uninterrupted streetscape.

A central staircase dates back to the 1920s when the terraces were converted into flats.  Following conversion into apartments the verandah arches have been opened to allow continuous access down the row.

The roof has obviously been reclad at around this time in tiles.  The chimneys are the other prominent aspect of the roofline and are presented as plain and bulky but elegant double chimneys with a series of six terracotta chimney pots.  The party walls on most of the terraces meet with the chimney although the decorative urns where the verandah meets the roof have been removed and appear to have been knocked off.  The verandahs themselves are decorated in fine cast iron lacework patterns above and below each of the two above ground levels.  The second level has large columns on the party walls, however it is made very obvious that they are decorative and not structural.  Below them are large classical corbels.  The French doors on the second level include a pair of wooden arches.  Notably neither of the upper levels have any verandah supports.  The ground level windows have large Palladian sashes and the door also has similar treatment adding an Italianate flavour to the terraces.  The windows have twisted classical columns to complete a detailed composition.  The English style basement level is half sunken such that it is discrete from the street and the verandah is supported by a single cast iron column.