39-41 Friar Lane, Leicester, City of Leicester

Summary

A pair of early-C19 town houses with C20 additions, remodelled internally in the early C21 to form flats.

Description

A pair of early C19 town houses with C20 additions, remodelled internally in the early C21 to form flats.

MATERIALS: the houses are built of red brick, laid to a decorative variant of Flemish bond. The roofs are covered with slate. Chimneys have been removed.

PLAN: the buildings are semi-detached, a roughly U-shaped plan formed by the addition of narrow rear extensions.

EXTERIOR: the pair of houses has three storeys above basements, each of two bays, with doorways to the outer bays and stacked window openings to the inner bays. The doorways have lugged architraves and incorporate small rectangular overlights, that to no 39 with margin glazing. The openings have C21 four-panel doors. To the inner side of each doorway are single window openings to each floor set beneath gauged brick heads, those to the ground and first floors with six-over-six pane sash frames. The upper floor has three-over-six pane frames. Above the upper floor windows is a deep modillioned eaves cornice.

The gabled ends of the building are rendered and incorporate some small window openings with C21 joinery. The rear elevation has stacked window openings to the inner bays set below shallow brick arch heads, some with glazing bar sashes, others with altered joinery. The outer bays have semi-circular headed stair windows, that to no 39 still at its original height, with radiating glazing bars to the window head. Below this window is a short two-storey extension with a monopitch roof. Number 41 has a cranked three-storey extension which is built across, and now obscures, the lower part of the stair window in the main range.

INTERIORS: the interiors of both houses have been comprehensively remodelled to create small flats with shared kitchen facilities in the basements. Almost all the original joinery has been replaced by C21 components, with the exception of the staircases which are plainly-detailed with stick balusters and moulded handrails. Many rooms have been sub-divided, and some of these smaller spaces retain original plasterwork and hearth surrounds, although the buildings' chimneys have been removed.

History

Leicester is one of the oldest settlements in England and its origins can be traced back at least to the Iron Age. There is significant remaining evidence of the Roman settlement, but there is little known of the settlement between the Roman departure and the medieval period.

In the Middle Ages, Leicester became an increasingly important urban centre. William the Conqueror ordered the construction of the first motte and bailey castle in the late C11 and later the settlement became closely associated with Simon De Montfort who became the Lord of the Town in 1281. Leicester became closely linked to the royal family through the earldoms of Leicester and Lancaster, which were joined under one person, Robert Beaumont, in the late C14. This led to further expansion and prosperity in the late-middle and early-modern periods.

The town also became a focus for religious devotion, with an area next to the Castle known as the Newarke, being the location for a collegiate church as well as other religious centres. After his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the body of King Richard III was brought to the town and buried in the church of the Greyfriars, a Franciscan abbey which tradition has it had been founded by De Montfort in the late C13. The church of Greyfriars was destroyed in 1538, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site was sold and a manor house built with an associated estate. Both the monastic buildings and the location of Richard’s tomb were lost by the late C17. The former Greyfriars precinct was later divided with a new thoroughfare, called New Street, laid north-south across it. The present street plan continues to reflect that of the medieval borough, although street names have changed, and the boundaries of the precinct remain largely legible.

Throughout the early C18 the two parts of the estate were gradually parcelled and sold for development. Later, the wider Greyfriars estate was developed, primarily as residences for the professional and polite classes. Industrial buildings, particularly those associated with hosiery manufacture appeared at the edges of the area and are shown on the 1888 map of the area. Latterly the area became the legal centre for Leicester and many of the buildings were converted into offices. The manor house was demolished in 1872 although its garden remained unencumbered of development, as did that of 17 Friar Lane. Both became car parks in the C20.

Leicester itself became an industrial centre following the construction of the Grand Union Canal, which linked the town to London and Birmingham at the end of the C18. By 1800 the population had reached over 17,000 and continued to grow throughout the C19. The first railway arrived in the 1830s and Leicester was linked to the mainline network by the 1840s. Significant industrial expansion followed, including textiles, hosiery and footwear, and this period of expansion saw many surviving buildings from earlier periods in the Greyfriars area either replaced or refaced in brick alongside the construction of several large C19 schools.

Although the city faced significant economic and social challenges in the C20 it remains a vibrant urban centre and is now known as one of the most culturally diverse cities in Britain. The Greyfriars area has been the focus of international attention and economic investment since the remarkable discovery of the remains of King Richard III under a council car park in 2012 and his re-burial in the Cathedral in 2015. Extensive research and archaeological investigation following these events has led to the scheduling of the former monastic site in 2017 (see List entry 1442955) and the renaming of the Guildhall/Cathedral Conservation Area as the Greyfriars Conservation Area.

39 - 41 Friar Lane are a pair of three-storey town houses dating to the early C19, and part of the C19 transformation and development of the Greyfriars area. The houses were originally endowed with rear gardens, more recently lost to car parking as the area has seen more intensive C21 development. The former town houses have recently been remodelled internally to form small flats with some communal areas, a transformation which has radically altered the buildings' interiors.

Reasons for Listing

39 - 41 Friar Lane, a pair of C19 town houses altered in the early C21 to form small apartments, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* they are a prominent and architecturally-distinguished pair of town houses.

Historic interest:

* they are located within a significant historic townscape, developed along the south-western edge of the precinct to the C13 Franciscan friary known as Greyfriars and make a notable contribution to its rich architectural character and historic evolution.

Group value:

* they are surrounded by many designated assets with which they have strong group value, especially the scheduled Greyfriars to the north-east and the Grade II-listed 31-37 Friar Lane to the east.

External Links

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