Cobden House, 19 Quay Street

Cobden House, 19 Quay Street

This Grade II* town house dates from the 1770s with later additions and alterations made during its use as a college in the mid-19th century and as a county court from the late 19th century. It was refurbished in the 1990s for use as barristers' chambers. The attached property at number 19B Quay Street to the west and the late-20th-century rear-yard brick gateway at the south-east corner are not included in this listing.

The building is constructed in Flemish-bond red brick with stucco and ashlar detailing, with a main double-pile roof and side-wing slate roofs.

The plan comprises a rectangular double-depth main range running east to west, with a rear south-east wing. The exterior is a three-storey brick structure over a rendered basement level. The front elevation, facing east, is symmetrical with five bays and a slightly projecting central bay. It is topped by a modillioned eaves cornice and parapet. The double-height central entrance features a late-19th-century doorcase with pilasters, frieze and cornice. The windows have plain reveals, raised sills and flat-arched heads, with twelve-pane sashes at the ground and first floors and nine-pane sashes at the second floor; the basement contains segmental-headed windows. A circular blue plaque on this elevation commemorates the building's association with Richard Cobden and Owens College.

The left return wall facing Byrom Street has seven windows, including blind windows next to the front elevation, a doorway, and two round-headed stair-windows at the junction with the rear-wing extension. Various other sash windows with glazing bars are positioned above. A ramped parapet tops this elevation. A timber-framed war-memorial plaque moved to this location from elsewhere on the building in the early 21st century is attached here, as is a circular Royal Society of Chemistry blue plaque commemorating the work of Sir Edward Frankland and Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe.

The rear elevation faces the southern yard and includes a central tripartite Venetian window, a full-height canted bay to the left, and the east wing with a gable end topped by a brick stack. Basement level contains a set of French windows opening into a sunken courtyard enclosed to the south by an attached brick wall and steps. The upper floors contain a variety of sash windows with glazing bars. The elevation is topped by a modillioned eaves cornice and parapet.

The interior retains evidence of its original plan, with rooms leading from a central ground and first floor stair hall. The main stair descends to cellar level, while a side stairway in the east wing provides access to the second floor.

From the front entrance, internal stone steps lead up to a timber and glass partition with double doors, opening into the main hall. Within the hall is an elliptical arch with panel-detailing positioned in front of a substantial cantilevered dogleg staircase with a bottom curtail step; a further elliptical arch appears at the top of the stairs. The staircase features a simple timber handrail and slender wrought-iron looping balusters with foliate detailing. The hall ceilings are decorated with dogtooth cornicing embellished by egg-and-dart and floral ornamentation. The main central hall ceiling and walls are further embellished with plasterwork decoration including festoons. The large Venetian stair window has Ionic columns supporting a decorative entablature. Most doors leading from the hall have deep timber architraves with broken pediments.

The side staircase in the east wing rises from ground to second floor as a dogleg stairway with a timber handrail and straight balusters featuring scroll detailing at the half-landing levels. The ground-floor stone-tile hall floor has been reinstated; some flagstone tiles survive on the upper floors. A Classical-style fireplace in the north-east ground-floor room is understood to have been added in the late 20th century, and at least two further fireplaces exist in other former principal rooms and may be earlier. Decorative cornicing and dado rails survive in some of the principal ground and first-floor rooms. A further elliptical archway appears at the centre of the second floor. The basement contains some barrel-vaulted ceilings and has been subdivided into smaller rooms.