38-42, Parliament Street is a Grade II* listed building in the Lancaster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 December 1953. A Georgian Toll house, inn. 5 related planning applications.
38-42, Parliament Street
- WRENN ID
- outer-storey-coral
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Lancaster
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre MP: Cat Smith (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 December 1953
- Type
- Toll house, inn
- Period
- Georgian
- Address
- 38-42, Parliament Street, LA1 1BS
- OS grid reference
- SD 480 622
- Coordinates
- 54.05385, -2.79494
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
A toll house and inn, now vacant, was constructed around 1787 and altered in the 20th century. It was originally built as a toll house for Skerton Bridge, which dates from 1783-87, and it was designed by Thomas Harrison as part of his plan for the bridge’s approach. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with squared coursed sandstone to the sides, and has slate roofs. Located on the axis of the bridge, it was intended to terminate the view when travelling south towards Lancaster.
The building is symmetrical, consisting of a taller two-storey, three-bay central block linked by screen walls to two-storey, three-bay pavilions, each with a pedimented gable. All front windows are glazing bar sash windows, currently covered with temporary panels. The central block features a plain ashlar lower storey, with the bays of the upper storey separated by paired engaged Ionic columns supporting a plain frieze, dentilled cornice, and a blocking course. A blank tablet sits above the central window, while blind rectangular recesses are positioned above the outer windows. The doorway has a pediment supported by plain console brackets, and a door constructed of six vertical panels with a glazed horizontal panel above. The roof is hipped, with chimneys positioned to the left and right.
The screen walls, each of five bays, have a cornice and blocking course, and feature alternating round-headed and rectangular blind recesses. The pavilions incorporate storey bands below the moulded pediments and a blind recess in the center of the first floor, with a chimney on both the front and rear gables. The return wall of each pavilion has three bays (the bay nearest the front being blind) and a central, single-storey ashlar porch with a cornice and blocking course, incorporating pilasters flanking the doorway. The rear of the central block features a tall stair window and is connected to No. 38 (to the south) by a late 20th-century restaurant extension.
The interior includes a staircase with stick balusters, visible through a window in the central block.
Local climate
38-42, Parliament Street sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,400 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2021
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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