Youngs Hotel (Number 25)

A row of three houses, now part of Young’s Hotel, bookshop, and dental surgery, was built between 1700 and 1707, with later alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries and again in the 20th. The front is of orange brick in Flemish bond, with a painted stone plinth. Nos. 27 and 29 have painted stone dressings, while No. 25 features timber doorcases and a cornice. The rear is of orange-brown brick, and the pantile roofs have box dormers with two-light Yorkshire sash windows and brick stacks.

The front has a symmetrical eleven-bay facade. The central entrance bay to No. 25 slightly projects and features a doorcase composed of fluted, half-elliptical columns with neckings and moulded bases. The doorcase is topped by a moulded cornice on elongated scrolled consoles. Steps lead to a six-panel door and fanlight within a round-arched architrave with a panelled reveal and moulded transom. No. 27 has a similar doorcase with an eight-panel door, renewed radial overlight, and corresponding panelled reveal. No. 29 has an enriched doorcase featuring sunk-panel pilasters with acanthus leaf ornamentation at the head and an open pediment on frieze blocks. It also has a six-panel door and a radial fanlight recessed in a plain reveal, within a round-arched surround with a fluted impost band. Ground floor windows are twelve-pane sashes, except for a sixteen-pane sash to the left of the entrance to No. 27. No. 25 has one-pane sash windows on the first and second floors; other first-floor windows are tall, unequal fifteen-pane sashes, and second-floor windows are twelve-pane sashes with original glazing bars. Windows generally have painted stone sills and retain flat arches of gauged bricks. Broad raised bands define the first and second floors, and a dentilled and modillioned eaves cornice runs along the top.

The rear of the building is three storeys and attics with four gabled bays; No. 25 has shaped gables, while Nos. 27 and 29 have Dutch gables. No. 25’s rear is extensively obscured by a fire escape and extensions. A shallow elliptical bow window with three twelve-pane sashes is on the first floor to the left of an extension. A round-arched staircase window sits between a twelve-pane sash to the left and a four-pane sash to the right on the second floor; both windows are within elliptical brick arches. Attic windows consist of a four-pane sash to the left and a two-light window to the right, both with rendered flat arches. No. 27’s rear is not visible. No. 29 has four-pane sashes on the first and second floors with a twentieth-century two-light window in the attic, all with segmental brick arches.

Inside No. 25, a full-height open string staircase has slender turned balusters and a moulded, ramped handrail, wreathed at the foot. The staircase window between the first and second floors incorporates painted glass dated 1801 by Thomas Hodgson. Panelled rooms are present on the first and second floors of No. 29. No. 27 was vacant at the time of the survey.