Stephenson's Works - Erecting Shops Etc. J T Dove, Showroom, Nos 2-14

Railway works, now building trade warehouse and showroom. Dating from 1823 with extensions in 1827, later altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, and severely damaged by fire in 1934.

This building was used by George and Robert Stephenson as part of their original Railway Works and is of great historical significance as probably the world's first purpose-built locomotive factory. The 'Rocket' was built here in 1828-29. Originally the building served multiple functions including a mill, fitting shops, furnaces, smithies and pattern shops.

The exterior is constructed of brick, with rendered and painted brick sections, partly steel clad, and has slate and steel sheet roofs. The building is single storey and two storey. The main entrance on Orchard Street features a late 20th-century double-gabled facade with modern windows. To the left is a single storey brick range with a slate roof and 9 large windows with concrete lintels. Further blind brick ranges extend beyond with some blocked openings and a partly glazed roof. The north facade is rendered and painted. The South Street facade, now rendered and painted, has a large 20th-century access doorway to the left with a steel girder lintel and an earlier cast iron lintel above, now redundant. Beyond to the right are two small entrance doorways reached by two steps, with a canopy. Further to the right is a two storey gabled section with various blocked doorways and an upper loft doorway flanked by two small windows. Beyond again is a blank wall topped by a continuous section of upper windows, then another large 20th-century access with steel lintel. A 20th-century casement follows, with a round-headed window above retaining a fanlight, which may date from Stephenson's Works. Then a single 20th-century casement on the ground floor and two similar windows above, a small timber-framed section with double doors below and a loft door above. Finally, the former office section, where Robert Stephenson had his office on the first floor (now with a 20th-century window and a single door), and a further ground floor window beyond.

The interior retains sections of plain 19th-century timber roof structure. The upper room used by Stephenson as an office remains identifiable, though none of its original features survive. Many surviving walls correspond with walls visible on surviving maps, but extensive covering makes it difficult to assess how many walls are original. The 1934 fire destroyed much of the upper structure.