4, 6 and 8 New Street, Leicester, City of Leicester

Summary

Former terraced house, built and extended in the late C18, with C19 extensions to the rear, now commercial offices.

Description

Former terraced house, built and extended in the late C18, with C19 extensions to the rear, now commercial offices.

MATERIALS: The roof has a slate covering and red brick chimneystacks; the walls are constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with stone dressings, and an ashlar stone front to the ground floor of 4 and 6 New Street.

PLAN: 4 and 6 New Street is rectangular on plan, and 8 New Street is L-shaped on plan, with a rectangular-plan extension, and long extension to the rear (south-west).

EXTERIOR: 4 and 6 New Street is a five-bay three-storey building, constructed in the last quarter of the C18, and extended with the addition of two bays in the late C18; the three northern bays are now known as 8 New Street. The pitched roofs have slate coverings; 4 and 6 New Street have two red brick chimneystacks on the ridge of the pitched roof, and 8 New Street has two chimneystacks shared on its north party wall with 10 New Street. The walls are constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with moulded stone eaves, and a stone sill course to the first and second floors. The central three bays of 4 and 6 New Street break forward, with a moulded pediment over. The flat-arched window openings contain six-over-six pane sash windows to the ground and first floors, and the second floor of 4 and 6 New Street has side-hung casement windows, while the second floor of 8 New Street has three-over-three pane sash windows. An ashlar stone frontage was applied to the ground floor of 4 and 6 New Street in the early C20, with plainly-detailed classical motifs including plain engaged pilasters. A flat-arched architrave contains double-leaf timber-panelled doors and a wrought-iron over light bearing the monogram of the Trade Protection Society. The windows of the ground floor were also replaced in the early C20. A round-arched architrave was added to the door surround of 8 New Street in the early C20, with the name of ‘ST MARTIN’S / CHAMBERS’ inscribed on a stone tympanum over a nine-panelled door. 4 and 6 New Street was extended to the rear, probably in the mid- to late-C19. Two extensions were added to the rear of 8 New Street in the mid- to late-C19, with hipped slate-covered roofs, and walls composed of red brick to the exterior, and white glazed-brick to the interior shared roof space. All C19 extensions retain their original sash windows.

INTERIOR: the interior of 4 and 6 New Street retains its three original storeys to the front, and a C19 two-storey former hall of the Trade Protection Society to the rear. The C18 range does not appear to retain any original features, or any original stair. The C19 hall to the rear retains chamfered engaged pilasters with foliated capitals, which bear the monogram ‘TPS’ of the Leicestershire Trade Protection Society. A suspended ceiling was introduced in the late C20, and it is likely the C19 cornice survives underneath. On the north side of the hall, a Gothic arch leads to a C19 safe and a C19 office, which retains a plain cornice and original windows, including a leaded-and-stained-glass window to the chamfered north-east corner. Within 8 New Street, the front range retains its original floor plan, and some plain cornicing and fireplaces. To the rear, the mid-and late-C19 extensions retain their original floor plan, some plain original fireplaces, doors and overlights, and some lavatories retain their C19 polychromatic tiling.

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 particularly on the east bank of the River Soar where the bath house and palaestra at Jewry wall represent the only standing remains of Ratae Corieltauvorum and one of the largest standing pieces of Roman civilian building in the country. However, 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. This was later rebuilt in stone and the great hall survives containing one of the finest medieval interiors in the country. The city became closely associated with Simon De Montfort who became the Lord of the Town in 1281, and one of the city’s two universities is named after him. The town also 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. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey died at Leicester Abbey in 1530 on his way to face trial in London and was buried there. Other major individuals to be associated with the city include Robert Dudley, who was made Earl of Leicester by Elizabeth I.

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 manor belonged to Alderman Robert Herrick and remained in the family until the early C18 when it was sold to Thomas Pares. The former Greyfriars precinct was then divided with a new thoroughfare, called New Street laid north-south across it. The street plan more generally continues to resemble that of the medieval borough, although street names have changed, with the boundaries of the precinct on the whole respected.

Throughout the early C18 the two parts of the estate were gradually parcelled and sold for development. It was in the Georgian period that the wider Greyfriars estate was developed, primarily as residences for the professional and polite classes. Many of the remaining buildings date to that period and are domestic in both scale and character. Industry did encroach at the fringes and commercial activities and industry such as hosiery appear 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, which allowed for significant industrial expansion. The major industries were textiles, hosiery and footwear. The size of Leicester increased dramatically at this time and many surviving medieval and early-modern buildings in the Greyfriars area were either replaced or refaced in brick. The C19 also saw the construction of several large schools in the area.

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 Richard III under a council car park in 2012 and his re-burial in the Cathedral in 2015. Resultant extensive research and archaeological investigation led to the scheduling of the former monastic site in December 2017 (National Heritage List for England entry 1442955) and the renaming of the Guildhall/Cathedral Conservation Area to Greyfriars.

4 and 6 New Street was built in the last quarter of the C18, with a symmetrical five-bay elevation to New Street; the building was extended to the north with the addition of two bays in the late C18. By 1835 New Street had become the centre of Leicester’s legal professions and the building was adapted as offices and barristers’ chambers. An ashlar stone frontage was added to the ground floor of 4 and 6 New Street in the early C20. 4 and 6 New Street is shown on the 1944 Goad Map as being occupied by the ‘Trade Protection Society’, and later on the 1961 Goad Map as being occupied by the ‘Leicestershire Trade Protection Society Ltd’; the building is recorded as being three storeys in height, having a two-storey extension to the rear with a rectangular roof light. To the north, 8 New Street is shown as the offices of St Martin’s Chambers on the 1944 and 1961 Goad maps. A two-storey extension was added to the rear of 8 New Street, most likely in the mid-C19, and a long two-storey extension was constructed in the late C19, probably around 1890.

Reasons for Listing

4, 6 and 8 New Street, a former terraced house built and extended in the late C18, with C19 extensions to the rear, now commercial offices, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good example of a late-C18 town house with a pleasingly proportioned composition and subtle classical detailing that relieves its relatively austere architectural character, typical of such houses during this period;
* for the extension and remodelling of the building for commercial use in the C19, and sympathetic refronting in the early C20, which retain commercial features of note.

Historic interest:

* it exemplifies the typical Victorian practice of redeveloping older houses in city centres as the middle classes moved out to fast-growing suburbs;
* it is located within a significant historic townscape, developed within the precinct of the C13 Franciscan friary known as Greyfriars, and makes a notable contribution to its rich architectural character and historic evolution.

Group value:

* it is surrounded by many designated assets with which it has strong group value, especially the scheduled Greyfriars to the north, east and west, and Grade II listed 10 and 10A New Street to the north, 23-27 Friar Lane to the east, and 2 New Street to the south.

External Links

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