Former Public Benefit Shoe Company Shop At Corner Of Coltman Street

This is a former shoe warehouse and shop located on the corner of Coltman Street in Kingston upon Hull, built in 1896 by Gelder & Kitchen of Hull for the Public Benefit Shoe Company. It is constructed in a Flemish Renaissance Revival style, with brick exterior, ashlar and granite dressings, and gabled and hipped slate roofs, featuring single ridge and side wall stacks. The building has string courses and a moulded second-floor sill band, and is arranged over three storeys plus garrets, with a 6x9 window arrangement.

The main front, facing Hessle Road, features a slightly projecting bay to the right, distinguished by octagonal buttresses surmounted by turrets, a shaped coped gable with a segmental pediment and finial. The first floor contains two stone mullioned cross casements, and above them, two pairs of mullioned windows. A round window with a wreathed surround is set within the gable peak. To the left is a recessed bay with two transomed windows, and above, two segment-headed windows with Tuscan columns between them. Further to the left is an octagonal corner tower with a rounded lower stage, featuring three small windows at the second-floor level. Above the tower is a cupola with round-arched windows and Tuscan columns, topped with an octagonal spire ending in a domed turret with a flagstaff. An elaborate strapwork frieze in high relief runs between the first and second floors. Below this frieze, at the left corner, a clock is flanked by coats of arms, with a small window alongside. The ground floor shop front extends along the Coltman Street front, with granite pilasters and a plinth, and a moulded fascia cornice supported by curved brackets. A recessed central glazed door features a round-headed glazed panel and overlight, flanked by single-pane windows with metal-framed toplights. A recessed double doorway is located at the left corner.

The Coltman Street front has a projecting gable mirroring the Hessle Road front, with two transomed windows on the first floor and two flat-headed windows above. Further along, three pairs of transomed windows are followed by six segment-headed windows with Tuscan columns between them. A frieze with two cartouches is positioned on the upper levels. The ground floor here has two 3-light windows to the left, and two blank single-pane shop windows with metal-framed toplights to the right. A recessed single bay features a window to the first and second floors, with a pair of smaller windows above. A recessed double door completes the façade.