Description

Showroom and shops with flats (now commercial premises) above. 1935 by Percy Herbert Grundy of Bedingfield & Grundy, Architects, of Leicester.
Predominantly red brick with some greys and alternate header courses in burnt brick, laid in English bond; concrete and stone dressings, many now painted, and ashlar parapet; roof not visible. L-shaped building with side range to Nelson Street.
Moderne style. 3 storeys, reducing to 2 along side elevation. 6 bays wide to London road.
GROUND FLOOR: Central pair of shopfronts flanked by recessed entrances and single shops to outer bays. All shopfronts are original: black stall risers with central grilles; plate glass windows with simple metal sections to frames, triple horizontal lights to upper parts with glazing sections angled down to recessed doorways; all set in plain surrounds under deep fascia (now covered with box signs) under stripped dentil cornice. Solid panelled doors to stairwells to flats, set in fluted pilasters with square capitals; recessed curvilinear panel over doors and balconies with metal, fretwork grilles above.
FIRST FLOOR: tripartite windows with 4 horizontal, metal Crittall lights and opening panel with chevron glazing to upper sections; single blind light with chevron glazing in centre; continuous plat band above windows recessed; tall 4 over 4 light window to right stairwell and continuous window through first and upper floors to left, with central decorative, blind, centre panel and canted head.
UPPER FLOOR: all recessed to plane of stairwells; main windows are set between deep, banded, quadrant surrounds that support the parapet above; tripartite glazing with 5 horizontal lights; single windows beyond surrounds. Abstract finials to centre and ends.
Projecting ashlar parapet with pierced open panels with grilles to left and on Nelson St return. The horizontal emphasis of the composition is broken by a 'look-out' that projects the plane of the stairwell up through the parapet line: tripartite bay window with projecting roof, flanked by brick and stone stacks.
Side elevation to Nelson St has double height oriel window with decorative, coloured glass central panel; garage entrance to right with overlight in lower section to right.
INTERIOR: not inspected, but plain staircases with flat steel balustrade.
A good and intact example of an inter war commercial building with flats, by a significant local architect. Forms a group with the Berkeley Burke Building (formerly Goddard's polish factory) by the same architect, at the south end of Nelson Street.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26675912

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  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)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)