The terrace houses at 55-67 demonstrate how in the mid 19th century the density of The Rocks was increased by the insertion of terrace houses into the existing housing stock which, at the time, largely consisted of small cottages. The replacement terraces were standard mid Victorian terraces, built as an investment and were not designed to be lived in by their owners.
Protected by their resumption by the government in 1900 they remained residences and today they retain some of their original configuration and remain in residential use as serviced apartments. The study area also retains evidence of the modification of the sandstone rock shelves that gave the area its name - the first bedrock cuttings to make building platforms and subsequent cuttings and retaining walls as street improvements by the Public Works Department.