42, 44 and 46 Thomas Street (including 41, 43 and 45 Back Turner Street)

Workshop dwellings of the late 18th century, subsequently altered.

Built of hand-made red brick with concrete-tile roofs, this complex comprises two terraces of three houses backing onto each other, with small yards between them now built upon and connected by link structures.

The houses fronting Thomas Street (numbers 42, 44 and 46) are arranged on a double-depth plan, while those on Back Turner Street (numbers 41, 43 and 45) are of single-pile construction. Both terraces face onto streets within the Smithfield Conservation Area—Thomas Street being a principal street and Back Turner Street a narrow lane.

THOMAS STREET ELEVATION

The north-east facing elevation rises three storeys above the pavement, with one window per floor. The ground floor has a continuous shop front with roller shutters and fascia, concealed by timber stall-risers which hide cellar windows. Above, the brickwork is laid in Flemish bond with a straight vertical joint between numbers 46 and 44.

Number 46 retains taller windows in unaltered openings with stone sills and a splayed rubbed brick lintel at first floor. Numbers 44 and 42 each have a wide segmental-arched window at first floor with stone sill to 44; number 42 shows infill brickwork. At second floor, each house has a wide three-light window with stone sill; number 44's opening is unaltered, while at number 42 the brick-header lintel extends leftward to the equivalent of five lights' width.

The south-east gable wall of number 46 is visible above the adjacent building, showing at first floor a blocked opening with excess mortar and broken headers, while the second-floor brickwork is in stretcher bond with finished appearance. To the left, set back, the side of the link to Back Turner Street shows first-floor stretcher-bond brickwork between timber posts. Further left is the side wall of number 44's rear outshut in English Garden Wall bond, with header courses misaligned with those of the rear wall and a straight vertical joint at the junction. The outshut roof is gabled above the rear wall rather than hipped into the main roof. The outshut has casement windows at first and second floor with stone sills. The short side wall of the link between outshut and Back Turner Street block is in stretcher bond, with mono-pitch roof falling towards the Back Turner Street eaves.

The rear elevation is in English Garden Wall bond, partly obscured by link blocks running the full ground-floor width. The left half of number 42 is visible above, with a wide single-pane window at second floor. Number 44's rear outshut extends above the link blocks at gable height. The main rear wall of number 44 has a first-floor sixteen-pane sash window with stone sill and header-brick lintel, and a second-floor three-light fixed window. Number 46, set back by two bricks with slightly lower eaves, has its left half obscured at first floor by a link to 45 Back Turner Street with duo-pitch roof. A casement window with stone sill (partly concealed) appears immediately right of this link, with above it a wider three-light fixed window, also with stone sill.

BACK TURNER STREET ELEVATION

The south-west facing front wall of the three Back Turner Street houses rises three storeys in Flemish bond. Number 41 shows an irregular joint at upper levels where number 43's wall projects slightly. A straight vertical joint marks the division between numbers 43 and 45. Numbers 43 and 45 each have a wide central window below the eaves and a single first-floor window with stone sill and segmental head. Both have inserted ground-floor openings with concrete lintels, now blocked in modern brick.

Number 45 has a widened ground-floor doorway at the left, below which modern brick podia have been added. Beneath number 43's ground-floor opening is a segmental brick-headed cellar window, with a large stone block at pavement level supporting the stone threshold of a passage entrance between 41 and 43 (now blocked). Number 41's doorway, with plywood-sheeted door and slim stone threshold, stands immediately to the left. Further left are a blocked cellar window with segmental head and a blocked ground-floor window with segmental head and stone sill. Above these are aligned a first-floor window and shorter second-floor window, all with stone sills and segmental heads to the first floor. At the far left are two inserted slim windows at ground and first floor, with a short brick ridge chimneystack above.

The rear elevation is similarly obscured at ground floor and partly at upper levels by link blocks, but shows English Garden Wall bond where visible. Number 45 has a partially-blocked attic window of eight lights' width with timber frame; the first three lights retain mullions and are blocked with hand-made bricks, lights 4 and 5 hold a small timber window, and lights 6–8 are replaced by brick panel. Number 43 has a narrower opening with three-light modern casement inserted. The right-hand end of a former attic window to number 41 is blocked with mixed hand-made and modern bricks, identifiable by a straight vertical joint at the right.

INTERIOR

The basements, particularly to Back Turner Street, retain much original walling with blocked features behind later studs. The rear outshut to 44 Thomas Street preserves an 18th-century fire surround and door surround at first floor, while the basement to 45 Back Turner Street retains a range-alcove at the chimney-breast base. Visible roof purlins are hewn timber; more historic timbers including purlins and rafters survive above ceilings. Staircases and floors appear largely 19th century or later, though some 18th-century floorboards survive in places. At least one area of lime plaster ceiling on riven laths is extant. Further historic fabric may be concealed behind later finishes.