23-27 Friar Lane, Leicester, City of Leicester

Summary

A pair of C18 houses and a late-C18 house, amalgamated in the second half of the C20 and then converted into offices.

Description

A pair of C18 houses and a late-C18 house, amalgamated in the second half of the C20 and then converted into offices.

MATERIALS: the C18 pair of houses is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with brick dressings and a tile-clad roof. The late-C18 house is constructed of brick with a stucco render, painted white, and a slate-clad roof.

PLAN: the buildings are situated on the corner of New Street and Friar Lane. The north-eastern half of the red brick pair of houses has a long rear projection, and there are two outbuildings to the rear of the late-C18 stuccoed house.

EXTERIOR: the pair of red brick houses has three storeys and six bays under a hipped roof with a heavy moulded cornice and a large brick chimneystack. The windows are set in segmental headed arched openings with reeded keystones. The ground-floor windows are six-over-six pane sashes, as are those in the last four bays of the first-floor, whilst those in the first two bays are eight-over-twelve pane sashes. The attic is lit by four-over-eight pane sashes in the first three bays, followed by three-over-three pane sashes in the remaining bays. A pair of entrance doors in the central two bays are recessed under wide elliptical arches, the left one with an original panelled door, sidelights and fanlight with radial glazing bars, and the right one with a double-leaf panelled door (not original).

The late-C18 building to the right is of three storeys and three bays under a pitched roof behind a low parapet with a brick gable stack and an off-centre ridge stack. It has a painted plinth and cill courses at first and second floor level, and a moulded eaves cornice with roughcast frieze. The central entrance is set within a simply moulded door-case with a rectangular fanlight and small cornice. There is a further, round-headed, door with fanlight to the far right. The flanking bays have wide segmental headed window openings with small key stones and multi-pane sashes with side lights. The windows in the central bay above the front door are six-over-six pane sashes without side lights. There are cast-iron downpipes with decorative hoppers to the left and right sides of the elevation.

INTERIOR: this has been modernised through its conversion to offices but some original features remain, and suspended ceilings may conceal other historic decorative elements. In the south-western half of the pair of houses the principal staircase is a straight flight with two turned balusters per tread and moulded newel posts, and the main reception room retains round-arched alcoves either side of the (blocked) fireplace. In the stuccoed house the main entrance leads to a large lobby which has a handsome open well staircase with a closed string, turned balusters and square moulded newel posts. Panelled doors, skirting boards and some ornate plasterwork to cornices remain throughout the building. The former safe room is lined with glazed white tiles and retains its secure door and a door handle in the form of a hand holding a scroll.

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 (see List entry 1442955) and the renaming of the Guildhall/Cathedral Conservation Area to Greyfriars.

23-27 (odd) Friar Lane originated as two buildings: a pair of C18 red brick houses to the south-west (listed as 25 & 27 Friar Lane), and an adjoining late-C18 three-bay stuccoed house to the north-east (listed as 19-23 Friar Lane). The Leicester Law Library was formerly located in the courtyard behind the house with the address 19 Friar Lane. The first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1888 shows that the north-eastern half of the pair of red brick houses has a long rear extension, and the three-bay building has two rear wings as well as a detached outbuilding to the rear. The footprint of the buildings has changed little since then, although the street numbering has been altered. The most recent available map before the current (2020) edition is the 1966 map which shows the pair of houses numbered (from the left) no 27 and no 25, whilst the three-bay house is labelled no 23.

Since then, the north-eastern half of the pair of houses (no 25) has been amalgamated into the adjoining no 23, which is now known as 23 & 25 Friar Lane, leaving the south-western half of the pair of houses as no 27. Number 27 Friar Lane and the ground floor of the north-eastern half of the pair are in residential use but the upper two floors of the north-eastern half can only be accessed from the adjoining rendered building which has been converted for office use.

Reasons for Listing

23-27 Friar Lane, a pair of C18 houses and a late-C18 house, amalgamated in the second half of the C20 and then converted into offices, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* they are a good example of C18 town houses with well-proportioned compositions and some internal features of high quality craftsmanship, notably the handsome stair and ornate plasterwork.

Historic interest:

* they are located within a significant historic townscape, developed along the south-eastern edge of the precinct to the C13 Franciscan friary known as Greyfriars and make a notable contribution to its rich architectural character and historic evolution.

Group value:

* they are surrounded by many designated assets with which they have strong group value, especially the scheduled Greyfriars to the north-east, the Grade II-listed 2 New Street to the west, and the Grade II*-listed 17 Friar Lane to the east.

External Links

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