Former London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse

Former London and North Western Railway Goods Warehouse

This is a railway goods warehouse built in 1877 for the London and North Western Railway Company, designed in the Italianate style. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, blue brick plinth and banding, and white brick cornice and lettering.

The building has a trapezoid plan running north to south, narrower at the south end. It rises to four storeys on the north and east road elevations, and four storeys with basement on the west elevation facing the railway line. The west elevation contains seven original openings, two of which were originally entered directly by railway tracks. The south elevation had an opening for two railway tracks. All tracks were originally linked inside the building by turntables. The north elevation has two taking-in doors from the road, while the east elevation has no doorway openings.

The exterior features an eaves cornice of diagonal-set white brick and brick brackets on the north, east, and south sides. The west elevation has a plain brick parapet with white brick lettering reading "LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY'S GOODS WAREHOUSE". Most windows have segmental heads with multi-pane ironwork glazing bars, stone sills and impost blocks, blue brick keystones, and blue brick banding decoration. The 110-metre east elevation on Wellington Road North has 33 bays with paired windows (except for the extreme left bay to the south). The lower windows become larger as the land falls to the south. The 13-bay north elevation on Bowerfold Lane includes taking-in bays in bays 4 and 10 with gablets over and timber doors. A ground-floor door was inserted in bay 10. The parapet to the north-west corner was rebuilt in plain brick after bomb damage. The 32-bay west elevation contains seven original arched openings of differing widths in bays 1/2, 6, 11/12, 17/18, 23/24, 27/28, and 31/32, several with low platforms across their base. Two doorways were inserted, one in bay 7 and one in bay 22 which serves as the entrance to a modern goods lift. Four taking-in bays are located in bays 5, 13, 21, and 24. The 11-bay south elevation has two wide openings with altered sliding timber doors and a large bricked-up window in bay 1. Upper storey windows follow a 3:1:3:1:3 pattern.

The interior contains brick jack arches at basement and ground-floor levels, with timber floors above supported on transverse and longitudinal riveted I-section steel beams. Principal intersections are supported by cruciform cast-iron columns. Two longitudinal rows of I-section columns on the east side of the ground floor, set in concrete bases, indicate a later change in floor level. In the central area of the west side of the ground floor, some cruciform columns are set on deep bases where the basement has been infilled and the floor level lowered. Timber roof trusses have steeply inclined and glazed north-facing roof pitches and shallower, slate-covered south-facing pitches. Sixteen transverse bays include wider outermost north and south bays with symmetrical, slate-covered trusses. Hydraulic pipes survive in the north basement. Some metal tracks and a turntable remain on the ground floor, which is now subdivided by storage units and office accommodation. Staircases are located at the north and south ends of the building. An inserted lift shaft in breeze block is positioned towards the centre, with a second lift shaft at the southern end which does not open onto the top floor. Inserted vehicle ramps link the floors. Storage units occupy the previously open first and second floors. A manual gravity hoist, six hydraulic jiggers, and two electric-powered hoists are located within the roof space. The jiggers and manual hoist are mounted on timber beams and posts supported by the timber roof structure, while electric motors are supported on steel frames. Trap doors are located beneath pulley wheels and replicated down through the building.

The building was constructed in 1877 to replace a smaller storage building on the site which had been destroyed by fire. During World War II, the warehouse narrowly escaped destruction from a bomb, sustaining only slight damage to the north-west corner.