105, Water Lane

No. 105 on Water Lane is an office building dated 1870, which was altered in the 20th century. It was originally built for Smith, Beacock and Tannett, machine tool manufacturers. The building features white-painted brick and a slate roof, with deep bracketed eaves and a hipped roof at the corner. There is a short brick stack on the right side. It is a single storey structure with four round-headed windows facing Water Lane and one on Foundry Street, designed in the Italianate style. An ornate datestone with the initials SBT and the date is located above the corner entrance, which has a panelled two-leaf door set in a moulded brick surround. This surround extends around the building as window arches on a projecting impost band. The interior has not been inspected. The site was previously occupied by a house at the entrance to Matthew Murray's Round Foundry works, which closed in 1843. The works was later renamed the Victoria Foundry and became known for training draughtsmen and engineers, including members of the Krupp family, prominent German industrialists and armaments manufacturers.