Former Wheal Peevor purser's office, Redruth, Cornwall

Summary

Former mine agent's office, now in commercial use, 1883 with later alterations. Possibly by James Hicks.

Description

Former mine agent's office, now in commercial use, 1883 with later alterations. Possibly by James Hicks.

MATERIALS: coursed killas rubble with granite ashlar dressings.

PLAN: rectangular in plan, extending to the west into the Buttermarket courtyard.

EXTERIOR: the building is designed in a stripped Renaissance style over one storey on the front (east) with a lower ground floor to the west. It is constructed on a coursed killas granite plinth, with a monopitch tiled roof behind a parapet. The main elevation (east) is symmetrical and of three bays. In the centre of the elevation above granite steps is a round-headed entrance with a fluted keystone. Above this is a parapet which continues across all three bays; above the middle bay is a panelled entablature with a central roundel and above this again a pediment with scrolled and fluted decoration topped with a granite finial. The outer bays of the front elevation have corner pilasters and are filled with large windows with chamfered mullions and transoms set in round architraves with fluted keystones. The heads of the window surrounds are filled with floriate carving. The outer bays of the parapet are coursed killas granite; all other features are granite ashlar.

INTERIOR: the office building has stairs down on its north side; some historic joinery survives including doors and cupboards.

History

Until the mid-C19 Redruth’s centre of commerce was West End; this changed in 1852 when the railway station was built near the market house (built 1825-1826), the commercial benefits of convenience were realised, and Alma Place became a focal point for future development. The west side of Alma Place was improved from 1879 onwards, with three new important buildings being designed by James Hicks opening the following year: the Lamb and Flag Coffee Tavern; Redruth District Bank and post office; and the mining exchange. The bank's founders, Bain, Field, Hitchins and Co., were instrumental in the construction of a whole block of buildings on Alma Place, all of the land for which was owned by Gustavus Lambert Basset (1834-1888) of Tehidy.

By 1883 this group had been added to at its south end: tucked in between the mining exchange and the Buttermarket a small building was in use as a mining-business office. Little is known about its construction, and James Hicks has been attributed by many as its architect as he was responsible for the other buildings in Alma Place group. The building was constructed in the site of some stairs leading from Alma Place into the Buttermarket courtyard; these were reconfigured at the corner of Alma Place to provide access to the lower-ground floor of the building. Due to the topography, the office was built above the east side of the Buttermarket courtyard; in 1892 this undercroft was used as a ‘weighing place’ for the market.

The office was first occupied by Thomas Pryor, then the purser of the West Wheal Peevor Mining Company which comprised tin and copper mines at Treleigh, to the north of Redruth. Thomas Pryor (1836-1910) was the son of William Pryor who was the captain of West Basset, Wheal Peevor and other mines. He followed his father into the mining business first as a mining office clerk, and then as a purser at Wheal Peevor, Wheal Buller, West Seton, North Crofty and other mines. He was also a partner in a tin smelting company at Bissoe, purchased at Cornish tin ticketing, and provided work for miners during times of depression. He was one of the founders of the mining exchange in Redruth in 1880. Pryor’s job appears to have been made redundant at the end of the C19 as the mining industry collapsed; Wheal Peevor closed in 1899 and the office closed soon after 1902.

The building was then used as an auctioneer’s premises in the early C20; an optician’s in the 1920s; and later, again by an auction house until around 2002. An extension was built to the rear of the building in the 1940s, the lower ground floor of which was used by the adjacent printing works in the former market house. A two-storey extension in the Buttermarket courtyard was added in around 1977 (not part of this List entry). The former purser’s office is now in commercial use.

Reasons for Listing

The former Wheal Peevor purser’s office, Alma Place, Redruth is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* although small-scale in its execution, it is a characterful contribution to the streetscape of Alma Place;
* the building is attributed to Redruth’s principal C19 architect, James Hicks.

Historic interest:

* as a significant component in the late-C19 post-mining building boom in Redruth;
* as a purpose-built mine-business office for a specific local mine.

Group value:

* with other Grade II listed buildings on Alma Place, including the adjacent mining exchange which was designed by James Hicks in 1880.

External Links

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