Sparks' Daylight Bakery

STOCKTON ON TEES BISHOPTON AVENUE NZ 42 SW 6/731 Sparks' Daylight Bakery GV II Bakery and front office building. 1938 by Kitching & Co. of Middlesborough for Ralph Spark & Sons. Cream and green glazed tiles; flat roof not visible. 2 storeys. Long building with 11 close-set windows at either side of a recessed entrance tower. Double door, with small glazed panels, framed in 2 pairs of half-round green-tiled pilasters continuing up to and projecting above the roofline. Above door 2 flat strips which become similar pilasters above a flat balcony which links the 2 sides of the building; they form the mull ions of a 3-light first-floor window and rise to second-floor level. Above these the figures and pointers of a round clock are set into the ceramic wall face; fluted stepped-in parapet above. Above the door a projecting flat black-tiled hood, with metal borders and glass brick in the roof, on long sloped brackets. Windows in side sections are divided by half-round pilasters and have continuous green drip courses and projecting cills. Inner quadrant angles have curved windows with original horizontal barred metal glazing. Central windows also original, but others replaced by modern casements. The outer windows are narrower, to emphasize the solid corners of the building. Curved black-tiled plant Curved, black-tiled plant boxes flank the entrance steps; and the black tile is continued as a plinth. Green coping to parapet fronts of side sections. 4-window similar left return retains 2 original first-floor windows, and has 7 ground-floor recesses,some with inserted windows. Working part of bakery appears behind: first 5 set-back loading bays, partly fronted in yellow brick (tiles perhaps lost). Beyond a narrow entrance bay is bakery of 1 storey and attic in original materials with parapet, green bands framing openings, and pilasters framing entrance. Behind this a 2-storey blank section and beyond it a tall tower chimney with angle buttresses, stepped and fluted frieze and blank top coping. Only right return of office section visible; rest concealed behind later additions. Interior: hardwood floors throughout and good-quality veneered doors and doorframes. General manager's office has high dado veneered in burr maple striped with rosewood. Flanking offices for Secretary and Accountant have similar dados, but plainer wood. Whole building heated by ducted hot air from bakery.

Listing NGR: NZ4403720004