Numbers 54 and 56 Street

Numbers 54 and 56 Street are two town houses, likely originally with shops, now partially used as a shop with storage space. The building likely dates to the late 17th and early 18th centuries, although earlier elements may be present, with the upper storeys being re-faced around 1900. The exterior is a combination of English garden wall bond brickwork, sandstone, pebbledash, plaster, and pargeting on the third and fourth storeys, topped with a green slate roof featuring two front gables.

The building has full cellars and extends over four storeys. The shopfronts, dating from around 1900, incorporate wood frames and leaded glazing above transoms, featuring the City Arms of Durham, Salisbury, Newcastle, London, Chester, Carlisle, and York. The windows have arched heads with art nouveau motifs carved into the spandrels, and modern fascias. The second storey is brick with flush red sandstone quoins. It has two mullioned and transomed wooden windows facing the street, and one to the south end, all with shaped leaded glazing above the transoms. A frieze and cornice run along the third storey floor level, with pilasters at the north end and south-west corner. Three canted oriels rise through the third and fourth storeys to the street, with one to the south end. Pargeted panels beneath the third-storey windows on the street are inscribed “ANNO DOM:MDCCCC”. The south-facing window features a strapwork panel. A continuous pargeted band runs between the third-storey window heads and the fourth-storey sills. Pargeted gables are supported by jettied collar beams above the oriels, with bargeboards featuring moulded cornices. A red clay ridge tile is present. Old brick and a chimney are visible on the south gable and the ridge to the north.

The cellars have walls of bedrock and sandstone, with some brickwork, the bases of the chimneys, and three chamfered oak stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops parallel with the street. A modern stair has been inserted against the north party wall, extending from the street to the second storey. The front rooms on the second storey of both houses feature two painted chamfered oak beams, stopped at their inner ends. The party wall between the houses is 18 inches thick, and the original main rooms had corner fireplaces, some of which are now blocked. Number 56 houses an oak dogleg stair from the second to the fourth storey, with square newels and two stout barley sugar balusters per step. A similar stair in Number 54 only remains between the third and fourth storeys. A rear room on the second storey contains an oak cupboard with large door panels. Two flush 12-pane sash windows illuminate an enclosed rear lightwell, with one having thick quadrant-moulded glazing bars suggesting early origins. The roof structure dates to 1900, but the overall building form was largely unchanged. The architect is mentioned in City Council Improvement Committee minutes but is not named.