Wilkinsons (Formerly Binns Department Store)

This is a substantial shop and furniture store, dating from around 1900. It was possibly designed by W Basil Scott, an engineer, for Gray, Peverell & Co. Ltd. The building is constructed primarily of red brick with faience dressings and slate roofs, and incorporates a steel-frame structure.

The main east front features three storeys and six windows. The ground floor has bronzed metal window frames and a corner doorway has been bricked up on the right. Above, six large windows each have three-light cross casements, flanked by rusticated half-pilasters. The outer windows have flat-headed faience surrounds with keystones, while the four central windows have round-headed faience surrounds also with keystones. Above these, a broad, shallow pediment sits over four small windows with faience surrounds. Set-back windows on either side are topped with faience balustrades to the balconies. Each outer window is crowned by a square lantern tower with a lead pyramidal roof. The towers have pilastered corners, with circular faces; those on the right have clock faces, while those on the left have windows.

The north front is arranged with 25 windows in a 3:5:17 configuration. The ground floor has bronzed metal shop windows and a bricked-up doorway on the right corner. The three-window section to the right mirrors the east front’s fenestration, topped with a faience balustrade. The next five windows have tall sash windows in moulded faience surrounds with keystones; above, five smaller sashes are similarly surrounded. A deeply moulded brick eaves band with faience brackets supports five dormer windows with open pediments and sashes. The 17-window section has a flat roof with a low parapet topped with plain faience coping. The window arrangement is consistent with the five-window section; however, the windows are divided into pairs by plain timber panels which conceal the steel frame. Single windows are located at the right and on the curved corner, both flanked by timber pilasters hiding the steel frame.

The west front has five windows, overlying late 20th-century shop fronts, again with timber pilasters concealing the steel-frame uprights.

The interior retains a complete set of original steel uprights continuing the steel-frame structure.

This building is an impressive example of late-Victorian commercial architecture and is considered one of the earliest examples of a steel-framed building in Britain. A claim has been made that W Basil Scott constructed an earlier steel-framed building in West Hartlepool in 1896; however, documentary evidence to support or deny this claim remains unavailable.