55, Low Petergate

No. 55 Low Petergate is a former house, now a shop, dating from the early 17th century and refronted in the mid 18th century, with alterations to the shopfront in the 19th century and renovations around 1990. The building is timber-framed and has been refaced in orange-grey brick laid in Flemish bond, with a rendered rear. It features a dentilled modillioned moulded timber cornice and a pantile roof with a rendered brick stack.

The exterior has a four-storey, three-bay front. The shopfront is framed by sunk-panel pilasters topped with paterae, and includes a panelled fascia and cornice. It has a plate glass window over a sunk-panel riser, flanked by two six-panel doors, with the left door raised and fielded and the right door moulded. The first and second floor windows are 12-pane sashes with painted stone sill bands, while the third floor windows are squat 6-pane sashes with painted stone sills, with the outer ones being blind and flanking an original attic window in the gable end. All windows have flat arches made of orange gauged brick.

At the rear, there is a gabled wing with an external stack that supports a bank of four diagonally set chimney flues. Most windows are 20th-century replacements, except for one 2x6-pane Yorkshire sash in the attic. The front block features a cogged brick eaves course.

Inside, the ground floor has massive panelled beams exposed in the front room. A fine staircase with a close string, heavy bulbous balusters, and a moulded handrail, along with panelled newels with shaped finials, rises through the full height of the house. On the first floor, there is a partition wall with flimsy scantling studs in the front room, which also has a dentilled modillion cornice. Additionally, an original 19th-century lettered shop window is preserved on display on the first floor landing.