9, Somers Street

No. 9 Somers Street is a late 18th-century workshop, warehouse, and office building, altered in the 20th century. It is constructed of dark red brick, with some rendered sections, and has a slate roof. The building is a three-storey block with a gable facing the street, originally featuring five bays and two windows. The street frontage has been rendered and lined to imitate ashlar. A blocked loading door is on the right-hand side, with a window directly above it on both the first and second floors; these openings have segmental arches. A pedestrian entrance is on the left, with a modern door and surround, and a square window above it, also on the first floor. A second-floor window is directly above it. The left-hand return shows 20th-century openings to the ground floor. The first and second floors have windows in bays 1, 3, and 4 which are wide, with segmental brick arches. Windows 1 and 4 have three-light flush frames. Those on the top floor are side-sliding sashes with glazing bars, set just below the eaves. Window 2 on each floor is similarly styled but with square heads. A wide, segmental-arched window is located far right on the second floor; its three-light flush frame still retains glazing bars in the upper third. The interior is reported to contain the original roof structure, consisting of queen posts clasping collars, one set of purlins, and tie beams set above the windows. There is a change in floor level between the front and rear of the building. This building stands to the rear of No. 30 Park Square West and is the only surviving example of its type. It would have been used to prepare cloth for despatch, serving as warehouses, hot presses, and packing shops for gentleman merchants. The style is comparable to buildings in Blayd’s Yard, Briggate. Surviving doorways and fenestration suggest goods were loaded from the street, while upper windows were possibly altered loading doors. Workshops were located towards the rear of the building, with good lighting provided to the first floor and within the roof space on the second floor. Map evidence indicates it was the first structure built to the west of Park Square in 1793, with the street frontage developed subsequently.