Survey Data

Reg No

50020262


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social


Original Use

House


In Use As

College


Date

1790 - 1810


Coordinates

316009, 234285


Date Recorded

16/02/2015


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Terraced two-bay five-storey over basement former house and shop, built c.1800, having double-height recent shopfront to front (west) elevation. Now in use as shop, café and college. M-profile hipped roof concealed behind lined-and-ruled rendered parapet with cut granite coping. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls having decorative crest in circular panel, depicting rampant lion surrounded by thistles, to second floor. Square-headed window openings with granite sills, continuous granite sill course to fifth floor openings, carved granite architraves to first floor openings, six-over-six pane and three-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows. Carved granite cornice having foliate detail over shopfront.

Appraisal

Westmoreland Street, named after the tenth Earl of Westmoreland, was developed by the Wide Street Commissioners in the late eighteenth century as part of a network of streets connecting the newly built Carlisle Bridge (now O’Connell Bridge) and College Green. The street facades were prepared by Henry Aaron Baker (1753-1836). This building was part of Baker’s scheme, and in scale and massing it retains a strong sense of the overall design. This building is one of a group of four similar purpose-built retail units with residential accommodation over, sharing a parapet height and fenestration alignment and thus making a positive contribution to the continuity of the streetscape. It retains fine original detailing in the well-executed window surrounds and cornices, which are testament to the artisanship involved in the construction of this building, while the diminishing scale of fenestration creates a pleasingly balanced façade. The crest, representing the royal coat of arms of Scotland, suggests a previous Scottish association