Survey Data
Reg No
50920062
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
The Waterproof House
Original Use
Shop/retail outlet
In Use As
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1910 - 1915
Coordinates
315882, 233648
Date Recorded
22/09/2015
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached gable-fronted two-bay four-storey with attic accommodation commercial building, built 1911, with recent shopfront spanning ground floor. Pitched natural slate roof with ridge running perpendicular to street and set behind tall gable having red sandstone apex stone and scrolled kneeler stones. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Gauged brick full-span half-round window to attic, with tripartite multi-pane timber frame and moulded red sandstone sill. Pair of two-tier canted-bay windows to second and third floors with original timber framed casement windows having leaded sashes, deep moulded heads and sills with decorative punched and studded lead aprons. Third floor windows support full-span lead-lined canopy with modillions and foliate console brackets. Second floor lead apron with lettering reading "WATERPROOFERS". Full-span canted-bay window to first floor (as above) with egg-and-dart sill course below and further pair of foliate console brackets supporting full-span canopy. Recent shopfront extending to adjacent interconnected building, No. 63 (50920061). Street-fronted on west side of Grafton Street with entrance to Tangier Lane to south.
Appraisal
Built to the designs of Millar and Symes, this is a most appealing exercise in the Tudor Revival style, which flourished during the Edwardian period. It retains all original external fabric above ground floor, including the decorative leadwork to the second and third floors, contributing to the historic character to the streetscape. The gable punctuates the skyline and forms the visual focal point in this stretch of varied buildings lining the south-west side of Grafton Street. A so-called "ghost sign" between the oriel windows reads "WATERPROOFERS" and remembers the origins of the premises as Crotty Brothers-owned The Waterproof House [NLI EPH C821].