Description

ISLINGTON

TQ3182SW FARRINGDON ROAD
635-1/73/394 (West side)
Nos.113-117 (Odd)
and attached railings

GV II

Includes: Nos.1-7 RAY STREET.
Works and Foundry. Front block, 1864-1865; rear block, giant
stack and top storey all c.1875-1876. By Arding and Bond for J
and R M Wood (front block) and for V and J Figgins (rear
block), both typefounders. Buff brick set in Flemish bond with
spare use of stone dressings; roofs obscured by parapets,
bearing wall brick stacks and tapered giant attached rear
stack also of brick. Italianate Style. Six storeys; main
elevation front block (Farringdon Road) 3 bays wide (3:3:1),
side elevation front block (1 Ray Street) 1 bay wide (2-window
range); main elevation of rear block (3-7 Ray Street)
articulated as 3 bays (3:5:3) the centre-piece breaking
forward, side elevation rear block (Herbal Hill) of 4-window
range plus rear extensions (U-shaped plan) and stack; recessed
connecting wing between front and rear blocks in Ray Street of
1-window range. Front block: banded brick pilaster strips
extend full-height of building, corner rounded. Principal
elevation with recessed entrances to far left and to centre
bays; Ray Street elevation with entrance to right bay and to
connecting wing. Gauged-brick flat and segmental-arched
tripartite sashes with keystones throughout. Recessed brick
panels between 1st and 2nd and 3rd and 4th storeys. Stone sill
band to 3rd storey; modillioned cornice at 4th floor level;
stone coping to parapet. Ground-floor moulded keyed stone
hoods to segmental arched openings; modillioned stone cornice.
Iron-bracketed crane to Ray Street return wall at 1st-floor
level. Rear block: very similiar detailing to front block with
full-height banded brick pilaster strips to corners reading as
quoins. Ray Street elevation with paired entrances to
centrepiece (separated by 3 sashes) flanked by antae carrying
entablature extending the full-width of the centrepiece;
endpieces banded and rusticated with round-arched 6/6 sashes
with voussoirs; curved and radial glazing bars. 1st to 4th
floors with gauged-brick segmental and round-arched casement
windows with keystones, top floor with round arched sashes
with piers; stone sill bands to 2nd and 5th storeys; stone
cornices to ground and 3rd storeys. Decorative brick string
courses to parapet. Elevator shaft to Herbal Hill elevation.
Dramatic tapered brick chimney stack attached to rear,
otherwise rear elevations similiar but plainer than front.
Attached cast-iron railings with firm's initials on them.
History: Wood's closed in 1872 and the stock was bought by
Figgins; St. Bride Printing Library has some of the firm's
type specimens and an engraving of the foundry c.1900 which
proves that the building survives almost intact. The building
is an outstanding survival of the typefounding industry, and
extremely important for its early date, its size, and its
state of completeness. It is one of the earliest surviving
buildings in the Farringdon Road.
(Historians File, English Heritage, London Division: 1990-).

Listing NGR: TQ3134682139

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26490163

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)