Survey Data

Reg No

50010387


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Social


Previous Name

Café Ritz


Original Use

Restaurant


In Use As

Shop/retail outlet


Date

1915 - 1925


Coordinates

315822, 234477


Date Recorded

12/10/2011


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Terraced single-bay four-storey commercial building over concealed basement, reconstructed 1920, with shopfront inserted to ground floor. Built as one of pair to designs of Patrick Munden. Flat roof with shared rendered chimneystacks, hidden behind raised parapet wall with granite coping. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond with flush granite ashlar courses, granite blocking course forming third floor lintel surmounted by deep granite cornice and large scrolled console brackets to either end. Suspended lettering to west pier reading. Single-bay oriel window rising from first floor to third floor with recessed tripartite timber casement windows having projecting central windows with slender colonettes, curved sidelights and original timber casement windows. Moulded sills and apron panels below each window with encrusted pebble finish. Replacement glazed shopfront flanked by polished granite pilasters surmounted by fluted and gableted console brackets framing full-span fascia and cornice. Cast-iron glazed basement lights to front pavement.

Appraisal

This house was rebuilt in 1920 for Messers Booth, to replace a house destroyed during the 1916 Rising. It was designed by the architect Patrick Munden, who later formed the partnership of Munden and Purcell Architects, which continued until the 1980s. The contractor was J. Pemberton and Son. The parapet consoles were carved by R. Troy. This commercial building is one of an identical pair employing decorative elements such as full-width glazing and stone embellishments. Formerly the Café Ritz, the building has some social significance for an older generation. While the shopfront has been somewhat altered, the basic elements remain and the building adds to a collection of early twentieth-century buildings that respect the former plot ratio of the streetscape and adding architectural interest to the street's overall composition.