Description

WORCESTER

SO8455NE THE TYTHING
620-1/8/627 (East side)
11/02/87 No.23

GV II

Offices and warehouse, now offices. 1907 by J.W.Simpson and
Maxwell Ayrton with later additions and alterations. Red brick
with cream-coloured stone dressings. Partially concealed slate
roof to right with coped parapet to end-gable. Stacks to left
and right with stone bands and cap. Main roofs are concealed
behind parapets. Steel window frames. Wrought-iron railings to
basement windows.
PLAN: Although occupying several burgage plots, the main axis
runs at right angles to the street. Central entrance.
Principal (west) elevation: Subtly assymetric facade in a
style reminiscent of Mackintosh; central gabled entrance bay
with parapeted wings; wing to right breaks forward;
diminishing pilaster buttresses flank central bay and wings. 2
storeys with semi-basement; attic storey to centre and right.
5 first-floor windows. Stone detailing includes window
surrounds with continuous sill, head, and intermediate bands;
copings to parapets; door surround and carved panel to balcony
above; apex of central gable with cartouche and date, row of 3
blind-windows dividing fenestration below.
Mullion and transom window to centre bay has semi-circular
arched head and extends through from first-floor to attic
floor; 3-lights to both floors: This is flanked at first-floor
level by a canted oriel window with a further 4-light mullion
window to the left-wing and a 5-light mullion window to the
right. The fenestration to the elevated ground-floor is
similar although the windows are taller; 2-light mullion
windows flank the entrance, a corbel bracket at their heads
carrying the oriels above. The shorter windows to the basement
align with those above and are protected by simple
square-section railings surmounted by a scroll. All the
windows are multi-pane with narrow glazing bars. 10 steps to
recessed entrance; carved door-surround with spiral motif to
bracket at internal angles; corbelled balcony panel above is
inscribed 'KAY & Co' with lozenge to each side. Ashlar-lined
vestibule with later plate-glass screen and doors to rear.
Large, canted, flat roof dormer with dentilled eaves to centre
of right wing, paired side-hung casements to each face;
further linked pair of small box dormers to left; all
partially concealed by parapet.
Left (north) return: Very long elevation with 5 shallow
projecting bays each surmounted by a gable and with a
semi-circular headed window to the upper-floor. Roof concealed
by parapet. Similar banded decoration, pilaster buttresses,
and fenestration to main elevation.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
In its use of materials, abstracted detail and compositional
form, this is a fine example of Edwardian factory
architecture. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N:
Worcestershire: Harmondsworth: 1968-1985: 333; Worcester's
Memory Lane.: Grundy M: Worcester: 1987-: 44).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26669623

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)