Wimbledon House

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 9 October 2023 to amend details in the description and to reformat the text to current standards

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LEICESTER WIMBLEDON STREET (East side) No 21, Wimbledon House

(Formerly listed as Wimbledon House, WIMBLEDON STREET)

II

Also known as: Wimbledon House, SOUTHAMPTON STREET

Clothiers warehouse. c. 1870. Designed by William Jackson of Leicester for Messers Hart & Levy, tailors and wholesale clothiers. Orange brick with ashlar dressings. Three storey with deep basement. Corner site with elevations to Wimbledon and Southampton Streets and a curved linking entrance on the corner.

Corner entrance reached up two steps, double panel doors with blocked fanlight in round headed opening. Stone surround has panelled sides with Greek Key band, moulded impost band and arch, spandrels decorated with carved foliate panels. Above another band and another carved panel with wreathed decoration. Above a tripartite sash window in moulded ashlar surround with elaborate carved cresting. The top floor has a small sash in ashlar surround.

The main street elevations are similar,that to Wimbledon Street has six windows and that to Southampton Street seven windows. Both facades have deep ashlar plinth and deeply sunk basement windows with metal frames and iron bars. Ground floor has sash windows in moulded ashlar surrounds, cornices and elaborate carved cresting, all with linking ashlar cill band. First floor has similar, though slightly smaller sash windows without the carved cresting, and above much smaller sash windows. The whole building is topped with dentillated ashlar eaves cornice and an ashlar balustraded parapet.

The Wimbledon Street facade has a stone entrance archway beyond, which gave cart access to the rear yard. This prominent gateway has a moulded ashlar arch with curved console keystone and carved patera in the spandrels. The gate is topped with carved entablature with foliate frieze and plain parapet with tiny central section of cresting. The painted wooden double gates have 'linen fold' lower panels [one replaced by a C20 door] and ornate iron grilles in the upper panels.

This is an architecturally impressive and extremely well preserved example of a late Victorian clothiers and tailors warehouse.

SK5925404561