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

• Wikidata Q26490163

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Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Old House Care and Repair
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  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)