Survey Data
Reg No
50020435
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Shop/retail outlet
In Use As
Building misc
Date
1820 - 1840
Coordinates
316586, 233921
Date Recorded
18/03/2015
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced two-bay four-storey over basement former house, built c.1830, with shopfront to front (east) elevation added c.1870, now in use as part of college. M-profile pitched slate roof, hipped to north, concealed behind parapet having ashlar granite coping and moulded brick corbels, moulded terracotta frieze with swag-and-wreath detail. Red brick chimneystacks having clay pots. Yellow brick, laid in Flemish bond, to walls. Square-headed window openings with one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows having raised render reveals and granite sills. Smooth rendered shopfront comprising pilasters supporting fascia flanked by moulded render impost course, moulded console brackets with shield detail, moulded cornice forming sill course to first floor windows, having moulded brackets, string courses, panelled stall-riser and plinth course. Segmental-headed window openings with fixed pane display windows, moulded surrounds and central polished red granite Corinthian colonnette. Segmental-headed door openings having double-leaf timber panelled doors with overlights, bell pull to north. Recent metal grill to basement light. Decorative cast-iron railings on rendered plinth walls. Street fronted to Westland Row.
Appraisal
This building's soft brown brick upper floors form a pleasing contrast with the later ornate terracotta parapet. The well-executed shopfront and intricate cast-iron railings are eye catching later additions which add artistic interest to both building and streetscape. Built originally as domestic residences, the houses on this street were soon adapted to include commercial businesses, some taking on numerous tenants and occupants. This house was occupied, in the mid-nineteenth century, by J.F. Robinson, a coal merchant, Alex and Robert Durdin and George Roe, solicitors, and W.D. Boston, barrister. Westland Row was opened in 1773, and widened in 1792. It retains a number of late Georgian and early Victorian houses, creating an interesting and varied historic streetscape.