17 to 37 John William Street

The building at 17 to 37 John William Street is a mid-19th century retail, office, and warehouse terrace, now in use as retail and residential premises. It is constructed with sandstone ashlar for the front facade and coursed stone for the rear elevations, topped with a slate roof and ashlar stacks.

The terrace fronts east onto John William Street, extending 19 bays along its length, with various projections to the rear. A short return feature connects to St Peter’s Street, providing vehicular access to a rear courtyard. The building is three storeys high and features rusticated quoins.

The John William Street elevation has a ground floor of shops. Bay six steps back, providing access to Byram Court through a flat arch surmounted by an original rusticated voussoir arch, now with a brick infill. Numbers 19-21 also step up slightly south of Byram Court. Most of the retail units have modern shopfronts. However, number 19 retains a doorway with Tuscan columns and a full entablature. The adjacent shopfront has a continuous moulded cornice and a rusticated pilaster with elaborately moulded consoles. Number 37 has a 1930s shopfront with a canted return to St Peter’s Street, featuring Art Deco glazing in the transom lights.

First-floor windows are one-over-one sash windows with moulded and shouldered surrounds, projecting panelled aprons, and a continuous moulded sill band. Triangular pediments appear over bays 3, 8, 11, 15, and 18, while bay 13 has a segmental pediment and a balustrade with vase-shaped balusters. The second-floor windows have segmental heads, moulded and shouldered surrounds, keystones, two moulded consoles to each sill, and a continuous moulded sill band. They contain three-over-six sash windows, except for the last three bays, which lack glazing bars. A modillion eaves cornice runs above, with paired and enriched consoles at the ends of the cornice to numbers 19-21. The parapet is punctuated by panelled piers.

The St Peter’s Street elevation is rusticated at ground level and features two windows, two doorways, and one segment-headed archway (with contemporary cast iron gates) within plain surrounds, each with moulded and slightly dropped keystones. The floors above reflect the style of the John William Street elevation.