21 And 22, Fawcett Street

This building comprises two shops, formerly a cafe, shop, and offices, constructed between 1889 and 1891. Designed by Frank Caws, with construction by David and John Rankin, and terracotta work by JC Edwards, it stands on Fawcett Street, Sunderland. The building showcases an eclectic combination of Gothic and Baroque/Flemish architectural styles.

The building is divided into two sections: Number 21 at the left and Number 22 at the right. Both have altered shop fronts. Number 21 is three storeys high, with six windows arranged under two gables, and features attics. It has a ground-floor panelled fascia and a cusped arcaded frieze with roll-moulded coping. Projecting canted bays are on the first floor, flanked by narrow lights with Gothic capitals to pilasters and elaborate heads above the central lights of the canted bays. These are topped by paired mullioned cusped overlights and dripstrings. A central, balustraded balcony on the second floor features panels with Gothic lettering. Curvilinear windows with paired arcaded top lights have shallow canted centres, all beneath balustraded attic balconies. The elliptical-headed, cusped attic arches over recessed windows are flanked by scrolls and pilasters which rise to high, shaped gables, incorporating terracotta patterns, central oval lights, and raised segmental pediments. Dates 1856 and 1890 are inscribed in the outer panels at eaves level. The steeply pitched roof includes a central lantern with Gothic lights and a high conical roof.

Number 22, to the right, is also three storeys high, with three windows and a central attic gable. It features a moulded ground-floor fascia and a frieze below a full-width balcony with a stone balustrade. The first-floor windows are tripartite in the centre and paired in the outer bays. Upper glazing bars are in curvilinear heads below swags; a second-floor balcony projects in the centre over panelled pilasters which define the first-floor central bay. Square-headed second-floor lights have raised arches with pendants. The central bay is defined by plain pilasters with scrolled pediment heads, below a panelled band and outer scrolled pediments. The central attic gable has a raised segmental pediment over eclectic tracery of a wide arched light containing smaller cusped lights. A steeply pitched roof terminates in end chimneys. Frank Caws’ own office was located within these buildings.