31 and 33 King Street West, including 3 Smithy Lane

This complex comprises a carriage manufactory built around 1840, enhanced with a showroom in 1849, along with a separate commercial warehouse dating from 1855. The buildings underwent major alterations in 1926 and were repaired after the Second World War, with some subsequent modifications.

Materials and Layout

The buildings are constructed of red brick and orange brick with buff sandstone dressings, blue slate roofs, and steel and concrete frames in later sections. The plan forms a broadly trapezoid shape around a central courtyard.

Setting

The complex occupies a corner site at the far west end of King Street West, marking the western entrance into the Parsonage Gardens Conservation Area. It is somewhat overshadowed by a multi-storey car park to the north and east and tall buildings to the west (outside the conservation area), but is complemented by the adjacent 3 St Mary's Parsonage, to which it is currently linked by a short bridge (not included in the listing).

South Front Façade (King Street West)

The principal façade is a three-storey, orange-brick block of eight bays divided into three sections. The ground floor features modern shopfronts and signage with rusticated render, topped by a moulded timber cornice. The upper floors are arranged in a 3-2-3 bay pattern, with a central pediment over twin plain stone pilasters and rusticated, fielded stone quoins. The lower seven quoins and bottom sections of the pilasters are rendered. The brickwork is laid in Flemish bond, with redder bricks in the courses corresponding to the rendered dressings. The whole is crowned with a plain frieze and a prominent, moulded dentilled cornice, with dentilling also appearing in the pediment. Set back to the left, above a three-storey retail and office unit (not included in the listing), the gablet with arched attic window of the workshop range can be seen, along with the hipped roof of the 1926 stair-and-lift tower.

Windows are vertical sliding sashes, without horns at first floor level and with horns at the second floor. All have stone sills. The outer windows have 12-over-12 panes at the first floor and eight-over-eight panes at the second floor. The central pair have nine-over-nine panes at first floor level, with the smaller upper panes subdivided to a different design in each window. At the second floor they are six-over-six panes. First-floor window openings in the outer sections have segmental stone heads with keystones, while the central section features eared stone architraves.

East Façade

The east façade begins with a one-bay return matching the front elevation, though the lower window has a bottom sash of only two panes. A further three bays, also of three storeys, are constructed in dark-red brick laid in stretcher bond. The ground floor has modern windows with roller shutters, with the right-hand opening blocked with brick through which a steel commercial flue emerges and rises to the roof. First-floor sash windows have two panes per sash, with the upper panes altered for ventilation; the right-hand window retains an early 12-pane bottom sash. Second-floor windows have two-over-two sashes with horns. Different colours of brick indicate rebuilding and alterations to the openings. All sills are stone. Ground-floor heads are segmental and brick, first-floor segmental heads are stone, and second-floor lintels are render panels extending through a deep, two-stepped eaves band of brick. The projecting stone gutter is lead-lined.

3 Smithy Lane

Further right, 3 Smithy Lane rises to four storeys and extends for seven bays. It is built of red brick in English bond with a rusticated, rock-faced plinth. Basement lights in the plinth are blocked with render matching the appearance of the stone, all painted white. The three-stepped entrance is located in bay 3, with double doors featuring raised and fielded panels and a semi-circular fanlight. The entrance has a rusticated stone surround with voussoirs, also painted. The plinth is defined by a ground-floor sill band. All windows are vertical-sliding sashes without horns, with gauged-brick arches. Ground-floor windows are all two-over-two panes, while those above are all three-over-three panes. The second and third floors have loading doors in bay 1. The eaves feature twin projecting bands with cogging between, and a small parapet.

North Wall (Garden Lane)

The north wall facing Garden Lane is constructed entirely of brick laid in English Garden Wall bond with five courses of stretchers between header courses, and includes blocked basement windows. It extends for six bays as far as a gable which projects through the slate roof and its clay ridge tiles. The gable and parapet have plain stone copings. The right-hand bay contains a basket-arched carriage gateway with alternating stone quoins and voussoirs and a modern timber gate. This bay has two windows per floor. All windows have stone sills and segmental brick arches, are of three-over-three panes, and become progressively shorter on successive floors.

To the right of this is the north wall of the former workshop range, partially obscured by a 21st-century first-floor bridge (not included in the listing) to 3 St Mary's Parsonage, constructed in steel and glass. This wall is built of handmade dark-red brick laid in English Garden Wall bond with varying ratios, but generally three stretcher courses between header courses. The first bay has stepped windows to the 1926 stair, with some rebuilt panels between them. To the right are a further two bays with some replacement PVC windows and some earlier timber windows with tilting centre panes. At ground floor to the right of the carriage gateway are two altered openings with 20th-century shutters. The angle to the right is bull-nosed at ground-floor level, with a stone impost supporting the angle above.

West Façade

The west façade has five bays plus a three-bay projection to the right, all of four storeys and built of handmade brick laid in English Garden Wall bond which varies between three and five stretcher courses between header courses. The ground floor is mostly obscured by a blind lean-to addition with a glazed roof. All window openings have stone sills and segmental brick arches, becoming progressively shorter on successive floors. Windows are PVC replacements. The parapet is plain with slim stone copings. To the right is the set-back, rendered 1926 stair-and-lift tower. The main workshop range has a south return with two visible bays, otherwise obscured by the 1926 tower. The ground floor has semi-circular arched openings.

Central Courtyard

The central courtyard has a concrete-framed south wall with glazing and brick infill forming the rear of 31 and 33 King Street West. In the south-west corner is a single-bay, brick privy tower serving the workshop range. The west, north and east walls are all of brick.

West Wall (Workshop Range)

The west wall, forming the east face of the workshop range, is built of handmade red brick laid in English Garden Wall bond, and comprises two bays and four storeys with a square brick flue in the angle at the right, topped with a moulded octagonal stone capping. The upper floor openings match those of the external west façade and the parapet coping is supported by a brick dentil course. At ground floor are two arched openings. The right-hand (engine-house) opening has a semi-circular brick arch, stone sill and multi-paned timber window. The left-hand (carriage) opening has a gauged-brick basket arch on stone imposts and a bull-nosed right jamb (the arch directly abutting the wall to the left). This arch is blocked in common bricks with a modern PVC window. The second floor has a 20-pane historic metal window with a tilting central six-pane opener.

North Courtyard Wall

The north courtyard wall, forming the south wall of the Garden Lane range of 3 Smithy Lane, comprises five bays and four storeys plus basement. Bay 1 is largely blind but has blocked openings to each floor, including a semi-circular arched ground-floor opening similar to the engine-house opening to the west. These blocked openings have slits to the 1926 stair, with that to the top floor itself now blocked. This bay extends above the parapet for roof access. Bays 2 and 3 contain a wide opening with rendered stone quoins and concrete flat lintel. Above this is common-brick blocking beneath a four-header-course relieving arch on stone imposts. The arch has a setted roadway running through it towards Garden Lane, with cast-iron kerbs to narrow footways. The ground floor of the building has been extended into the carriageway in a modern metal-clad structure spanning between sections of replacement brickwork with some concrete framing; the surviving original walls retain some limewash. The windows match those of the north wall of this range, but with PVC replacements to the top floor and right-hand bay. The two basement openings have been blocked.

East Courtyard Wall

The east courtyard wall, forming the west wall of 3 Smithy Lane, comprises three bays and four storeys plus basement. Windows largely match the street frontage, but bay 1 has a double-height timber sashed stair window and the top floor has PVC replacements. A modern fire escape is attached to this wall.

Interior

The showroom range has modern interiors with suspended ceilings, and no surviving historic features were visible during inspection. A suspended ceiling conceals the roof lantern. The workshop range retains internal structural fabric including a brick-vaulted basement and some floor structures, but no visible historic features. 3 Smithy Lane has some modern interiors with suspended ceilings, and retains historic structure as well as an original timber stair, doors and decorative joinery.

Exclusions from Special Interest

In accordance with section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, it is declared that the 1926 stair-and-lift tower, all PVC windows, the metal-clad structure within the archway from Garden Lane to the central courtyard, and the fire escape in the courtyard are not of special architectural or historic interest. However, any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require listed building consent, and this is a matter for the local planning authority to determine.