Former Fox's auctioneers at 2 and 4 Grove Street, Dewsbury including gate piers, yard paving and rear extension fronting Oates Street

Former Fox's auctioneers at 2 and 4 Grove Street, Dewsbury, including gate piers, yard paving and rear extension fronting Oates Street

An auction house, now used as a factory (as of 2022), built in 1878 by John Kirk and Sons for William Frederick Fox. Extensions were added around 1919 and 1933 for Luke Howgate and Son.

The building is constructed of yellow sandstone and brick walls with slate roofs and timber windows. It stands on the east side of Grove Street, which slopes steeply towards its south end. The complex comprises a saleroom block at number 4, with an extension to the south running eastwards to Oates Street, and a stable block at number 2 linked to the saleroom by a bridge.

The saleroom block is two storeys with three bays and a hipped roof. The west front is built of rock-faced stone in diminishing courses. It features a deep, bracketed cornice and storey-band, ashlar quoin strips above a rock-faced plinth, and a central, battered stone eaves chimney stack. The first-floor windows have eared architraves and bracketed sills linked by a sill band. The ground floor is treated as an arcade with recessed round-headed openings linked by moulded bands at plinth and impost levels. The entrance is on the left with steps and a plain fanlight over panelled double doors. The windows have tracery glazing bars forming two arched lights with an oculus above, and stone aprons below the sills. The arched heads have keystones; those at the left and right bear unusual carved heads almost in the round, depicting William Frederick Fox above the door and Dr George Fearnley. A projecting decorative cast-iron sign bracket sits above the central ground-floor window.

The north wall is blind, built of horizontally-dressed, squared stone with moulded eaves brackets. The east wall is also blind, of the same stone with brick at basement level, abutted to the south by the brick east wall of the extension's basement. The south wall is partially obscured by the extension but resembles the west wall, with moulded eaves brackets and band, and a raised sill band. Three pairs of windows have segmental-arched heads and mullions, with short stone jambs above a moulded impost band. All first-floor windows are vertical sliding sashes with horns.

The earlier extension's west front is of stone matching the saleroom block and eight bays wide. It is single storey over a basement, but due to the street's slope, the basement windows at the left are small while those at the right are almost as tall as the upper windows. Windows are stacked and spaced in four sets. The eaves brackets are subtly spaced, with three per window and one between each set. Windows all have stone lintels and sills; the pair at the left have slightly lower sills than the rest. The extension's south wall is in two parts reflecting its phasing. The east half, near Oates Street, is of brick and gabled. The west half is of stone matching the street frontages and half-hipped. Due to the street's slope it is two storeys with a wide basement door at the left, flanked by windows. At first floor is a central loading door stacked above the window to the right of the basement door; this loading door is flanked by windows, though the one to the right has been altered as a doorway and is now obscured by the link bridge.

The later extension's east wall faces onto Oates Street and is two storeys with a tall ground floor, built of rock-faced sandstone in diminishing courses with stone eaves brackets. It is largely symmetrical, with two pairs of first-floor windows with stone lintels and sills, stacked above an inner window and outer doorway, also with lintels and sills. The left door is at street level with a tall fanlight above; the right door is raised with a smaller fanlight. The eaves brackets are spaced to reflect the symmetry below.

The stable block's public frontages (west and north) respond to the south wall of the saleroom block, with similar walling, moulded eaves brackets and band, and segmental-arched window heads to the ground floor, linked by a moulded impost band. The block is two low storeys, two bays wide to the west front, with a single-storey south bay. Each floor has a raised sill band with moulded sill brackets. First-floor and southern ground-floor lintels are chamfered. The roofs are hipped and there is a small stone corner chimney stack. The left and right ground-floor windows are blind, with a small inserted window at the left; all others are sliding sashes.

The north wall is four bays wide. The three right-hand bays are symmetrical, with a wide central doorway flanked by stacked windows and a small door above. The sill bands lack the sill brackets of the west front. The left bay is largely obscured at first floor by the bridge, which accesses the hay-loft doorway. Below this the former carriage opening is blocked in brick, with a smaller doorway inserted. The east and south walls are of brick with stone eaves brackets. Windows are sliding sashes at first-floor level and casements to the ground floor.

Interior

The saleroom block retains its lobby with terrazzo floor, moulded cornices, skirting, dado and architraves, and a stone staircase with balustrade (the balusters are enclosed). A cashier's office doorway and window remain. The first-floor sales room has chamfered timber ceiling beams with pendants and moulded corbels, retaining window architraves and a decorative timber panel to the stair doorway. The north office retains timber panelling, architraves and door, and a fireplace with a rose motif in relief. The south office retains a fireplace with a tile surround, and architraves and cornicing. The basement retains a strong-room at the foot of the stone stairs. Much of the original external south wall remains in the basement, which contains a kitchen in the original south-west corner, retaining its original door and sash window, and a cast-iron cooking range decorated with rose-and-thistle motifs, stamped T JAMES & SONS, DEWSBURY.

The extension retains a suite of office furniture including a reception counter with glazed screens and bracketed lamp standards, and panelled timber cubicle dividers, all featuring Art Nouveau etched glass.

The stable block retains stone and brick floors, a decorative stall-divider newel and rails, timber stall panelling, gas-light fittings and a small cast-iron fireplace.

Subsidiary Features

The stable yard retains some stone flag and sett paving. The original square stone gate piers to the stable yard remain, with the capstone of the south pier currently unseated and resting in the yard.