Numbers 31, 33 And 35 Street Numbers 37 And 39 Row

A large and ambitious commercial building constructed between 1909 and 1911, designed by WT Lockwood for the second Duke of Westminster. The building comprises St Michael's Row (numbers 1–18 consecutive and number 20), incorporating 2 undercroft shops, 2 Row shops and 20 arcade shops.

Construction and Materials

The building employs faience and timber framing with plaster panels over a brick and probably steel frame. The roof is covered in Westmorland green slate.

Exterior and Overall Design

The building rises 5 tall storeys and displays 5 gables to Bridge Street, expressed above the Row arcade as a symmetrical E-shaped late Elizabethan house. The faience-faced undercroft features a broad central flight of 13 stone steps with wrought-iron rails leading to the Row and arcade. To the north stands an ornate wrought-iron gate to the service basement and a shop doorway, both set within trabeated cases with composite central columns and entablatures. On either side of the central staircase are modern shopfronts set in basket archways. South of the stair lies a part-glazed door in a case with architrave and entablature, with a flight of 12 stone steps with wrought-iron rails leading to the Row.

A faience cornice sits beneath timber-clad end-piers and 4 cross-shaped intermediate posts with timber rails on shaped splat balusters fronting the Row. The stallboards and Row walk are paved in terrazzo. Shopfronts flanking the arcade have recessed doors in basket arches with Art Nouveau carvings in the spandrels. A panelled plaster ceiling covers the Row, with a basket arch and timber triple "keystone" above the central stair. The bays to each side have bressumers on shaped brackets, with carved consoles on the post-fronts supporting the third-storey jetty.

The upper storeys feature small-framed timber construction with jetties at each storey level. The central and end bays project boldly, whilst the double-width intermediate bays project more mildly. A moulded fascia runs along the bressumer. The central and end bays carry a shallow canted 4-light mullioned and transomed oriel on both the third and fourth storeys, with shaped central and side panels. The intermediate bays have pairs of mullioned and transomed 4-light casements, with quadrant braces to the third storey and herringbone braces to the fourth storey.

The fifth storey has 4-light mullioned casements with herringbone struts and shaped panels in the central and end bays, and canted 6-light oriels with close studding and quadrant braces in the intermediate bays. The central and end gables display close studding, whilst the 2 intermediate gables feature herringbone struts. Moulded bargeboards run along the gables, with the verges of the intermediate gables, where rafters are exposed, projecting to the face of the central and intermediate gables. Each of the latter carries 3 drop finials. Lateral chimneys are positioned on the outer walls, and brick walls form the rear elevation. All oriels and casements are leaded, with mullions at the angles of oriels forming pilasters. The brick rear walls are unadorned.

The Row and Arcade

The Row shops return to a pilastered segmental archway with "figurehead" corbels—one female, the other a bearded male—marking the entrance to the arcade. The floor is terrazzo and the walls are cream faience with mauve banding. Composite pilasters on tall plinths stand between the shopfronts, with tiled stall-risers and oak frames. A cornice runs above, and Atlantes (male figures) are positioned between shops at the upper storey level. A richly moulded frieze adorns the space beneath a glazed roof.

The wider central part of the arcade is accessed at each end through great round arches, with adjacent shopfronts canted to open onto small side-arches. Each end of the glazed roof over the front and central sections of the arcade is hipped. At the far end, the roof is gabled and the frieze below is more sharply moulded, indicating that extension of the arcade was originally envisaged but not achieved until the 1960s.

Design Intent and Alteration

Lockwood intended the entire building to be wholly faced in faience. However, the client, despite receiving expressions of pleasure and thanks from the City Council's Improvement Committee, insisted upon timber framing instead, resulting in the current mixed-material treatment.