Forth Lane, Forth House

Former townhouse and then restaurant. c. 1750, altered early C19, 1869 and C20. Red brick, now rendered and painted, with ashlar dressings and C20 concrete tile roofs. Varoius brick chimney stacks. L-plan. 3 storey with basement.
Main Bewick Street front has 7 windows and first floor band. Altered ground floor has round headed central doorway with C20 double doors and fanflight. Either side are 4 round headed C20 windows in ashlar surrounds. Above 7 plain sash windows with above again 7 smaller plain sashes.
Forth Lane front has 5 windows. Ground floor has single storey addition of 1869 with a central round headed doorway with double doors and overlight. Either side 2 round headed C20 windows in ashlar surrounds. This addition is topped with a balustraded parapet. First floor has 5 plain sash windows, with 5 smaller sashes above again, the windows left of centre are blocked on both floors.
INTERIOR retains original plan form though some walls have been partially removed. Simple two flight early-C19 timber staircase has 2 turned balusters per tread with prominent turned newel post topped with ball finial, and moulded handrail.
Similar though plainer back staircase has boxed-in balusters. Four main rooms on first floor retain original mid-C18 features including panel doors and moulded surrounds, each room retains its original plain plaster ceilings and moulded plaster coving. Two rooms have egg & dart moulding and dentilated moulding combined in the coving, one room has egg & dart moulded coving and another has moulded coving.
This is a rare example of a large and important mid-C18 townhouse which retains some of it plan-form and a number of its most important rooms on the first floor. This house was known in the C18 as Waldie's House. It was owned by George Waldie, a Quaker banker, though the house was probably built for the Thomas Doubleday who paid Land Tax on the property in 1770. LISTED GRADE 2