Description

WELLS

ST5445 SADLER STREET
662-1/7/218 (West side)
12/11/53 No.7

GV II*

Offices, formerly house. Mainly C17 with some evidence for C15
fabric, with C19 and C20 modification. Timber-frame, jettied,
rendered and colourwashed, Welsh slate roofs, brick chimney
stacks.
PLAN: original plan may have been single-depth range at right
angles to street, with main heated rooms to the right (N)
side, and with a long wing to the left overlooking a
courtyard, and return wing across the back; probably a through
passage to the left. The original stair in a semi-cylindrical
well near the rear. 2 unequal gables face the street.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, two bays. Splendid late C18 or early C19
shop front across ground floor, slightly projecting under lead
flat roof and timber cornice; on left a 6-panel door giving
access to passage, then two 32-pane windows with canted ends
containing much crown glass and between these a pair of
matching glazed doors.
Upper floors have canted bay windows with cornice, continued
across to link windows, and 2-course slate roofs to first
floor, and hipped slate roofs to second floor, C17 windows
with ovolo moulds, 1+3+1 light each, with transoms almost at
mid-point of windows, with turned balusters to corners on
console brackets. Between windows at first floor-level a pair
of C17 two-panel doors with diamond-leaded fanlight over,
slightly narrower than doorway, with ornamental plasterwork
around this item. Double projecting sign at first floor level
between windows, on probably C19 brackets with long stays.
INTERIOR: the ground floor front room left has a deep
embrasure in the party wall, either a former fireplace, or a
door connecting to the adjoining property, and the room to the
right has a thick rear wall, rebuilt, and a central lateral
beam on a jowelled post with chamfer and run-out stops. A room
to the rear has 2 deep C16 or C17 beams to stepped run-out
stops. Towards the rear is a wide stair in curved well, with
small lantern over. The first-floor landing has a C17
three-light casement with fixed glass, and opposite this a C17
small panel door.
The first-floor front was originally one full-width room, with
a 4-compartment ceiling, now with dividing partition; the
central beam bears on the window head. The N end has a stone
fireplace with deep lintel, and to its left a further C17
small-panel door. The stair hall has various beams. The upper
staircase is late C17, with pulvinated solid string and splat
balustrade, but the balustrade missing from the lowest 4
steps. At the quarter landing are remains of multi-light
casement window with evidence of cusping.
The second-floor front has in the N room a deep stone
fireplace with splayed surround, and a very deep boxed central
beam; to the S room is an C18 2-panel door with a 9-pane
top-light with thick glazing bars.
The roof had high collars, now removed, and butt purlins, some
with chamfers and run-out stops.
The development of this building needs further study. The
shop-front is a particularly interesting survival.
(Vernacular Architecture Group Reports: Williams and Hale:
Taunton: 1988-).

Listing NGR: ST5495045778

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553124

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

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)