Summary

Pair of early C19 houses, converted to shops in the late C19 and extended to the rear in the C20.

Description

Pair of early C19 houses, converted to shops in the late C19 and extended to the rear in the C20.

MATERIALS: built of brick with timber shopfronts, under a roof of slate and plain tiles.

PLAN: main entrances to the centre, incorporated into the shopfront at number 12. Number 12 also has a side entrance.

EXTERIOR: the houses are three-storey, over a basement with a later mansard attic storey. The brown brick is laid in Flemish bond and the window openings to the first and second floors have gauged brick and flat arches. There is a stone cill band above the ground floor and each house is served by a tall, brick stack.

12 Castle Street has a timber shopfront with transom glazing, flanked by a pair of stucco Doric pilasters rising to a Doric entablature bearing the shop fascia. The recessed entrance door appears to be C20. There is a tripartite multi-pane window to the first and second floor and a multi-pane, flat-roofed dormer to the mansard. The plain cornice appears to be timber and is located beneath a rendered parapet.

10 Castle Street has a six-panel door with a radiating and wreathed fanlight above, set within a stuccoed round-arched architrave, under gauged brickwork. It is approached by a set of rounded steps. The shopfront is plain with two, plate glass windows and a glazed door. The first and second floors have the same window design as number 12, with the addition of a 12-pane sash window to each floor, above the main doorway. There is a dentil brick cornice and parapet. The mansard has two flat-roofed dormers, which have uPVC multi-pane windows.

Across the rear elevation of both houses, there is a variety of timber sash windows, including a large stair window in the central bay of the second floor. There are three dormers in the mansard. Projecting north from the rear elevation of number 10 are a series of later C20 extensions, constructed of brick with flat roofs and casement windows.

History

The crossroads formed by the north-south route of St Mary’s Butts/Bridge Street and the east-west route of Gun Street/Castle Street is believed to be the centre of the original Saxon settlement at Reading, established sometime before the ninth century, with the lowest crossing point of the River Kennet lying a short distance away to the south.

Reading was well-established by the time of the Norman Conquest, and the Domesday Book (1086) records six mills and a large estate in the town. St Mary’s Church, which lies on the north-east corner of the crossroads and was mostly rebuilt in 1551-1555, was the town’s primary church until the establishment of Reading Abbey in the C12 and became so again following the dissolution in the late 1530s.

Running west from the crossroads, Castle Street forms part of the ancient route through the town between London and the West Country, and the street historically contained many inns and guesthouses. As Reading expanded beyond its medieval limits during the C18 and C19, development spread further along Castle Street. Earlier buildings were gradually replaced with substantial townhouses and public buildings in brick or Bath Stone, although some timber-framed buildings of the C16 and C17 survive.

10 and 12 Castle Street were constructed around 1800, probably on the site of earlier buildings. In the late C19 they were converted to commercial use at ground floor level and historic mapping shows that both houses were extended to the rear by 1879. At number 10, the rear extension appears to have been rebuilt in two phases during the late C20, while the extension at number 12 may have been removed.
 
The shopfront to number 10 is late C20 and that to number 12, is mid-C20. The roof form has been altered by the addition of a mansard to the south and west elevations and the cornice to number 12 has been replaced. The ground floor of both properties currently (2023) remains in commercial use.

Reasons for Listing

10 and 12 Castle Street, a pair of early-C19 houses, converted to shops in the late C19 and extended to the rear in the C20, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

*     as an early-C19 building which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Historic interest:

*     as part of the urban development of Reading’s ancient core.

Group value:
 
*     the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26447942

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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