10 and 10A New Street

A town house dating to the late 18th century, refronted and extended in 1894 for use as offices, and converted into student accommodation in the early 21st century.

The late 18th-century house, number 10A, is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with stone and brick dressings. The late 19th-century extension, number 10, is of red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone dressings and a tile roof covering.

Number 10A faces east onto New Street and has an approximately square plan. Number 10 forms a long, narrow rear range, orientated east-west, and is accessed from New Street via a passageway on the south side.

Number 10A is in a simplified classical style, refronted in the late 19th century. It has two storeys and a basement under a pitched roof with tall chimney stacks on the north gable. A stone string course runs along the façade at first-floor sill level and an elaborately moulded cornice just below the eaves. The three-bay façade is lit on each floor by mid-19th-century two-over-two pane horned sash windows under finely gauged brick arches. The first bay contains a prominent brick doorcase with a moulded stone architrave and plain panelled frieze. It has rusticated jambs and moulded stone capitals from which springs a rusticated semicircular arch with a keystone carved with the initials TW and intertwining stylised acanthus leaves. The ten-panelled door has chamfered panels and a semicircular fanlight without glazing bars. A narrow recessed bay to the left contains a six-panel door with flush panels and a two-light overlight under a gauged brick arch, providing access to the passageway leading to the late 19th-century extension. A narrow sash window lights the first-floor room above. The rear (west) elevation is dominated by a double-height bow window with a simple moulded brick cornice, lit on each floor by three two-over-two pane sash windows. To the right, the first floor is lit by two more sashes whilst the ground floor is obscured by the late 19th-century rear extension.

The extension is in a contrasting vernacular revival style. It retains the original cast iron rainwater hoppers stamped with the words 'AIME TON FRERE', the date 1894 and the head of a deer. From the left, a single-storey linking range with stone banding at eaves level is lit by two six-light wooden mullion and transom windows. This is followed by the principal two-storey range which has an irregular façade to the north, under a hipped roof with ridge tiles. The first bay contains a panelled door and is lit to the left by a three-light mullion window and a cross window above. To the right projects a dominant gabled bay with decorative bargeboards carved in a foliate design, whilst the head of the gable has applied close studding. The bay is lit on both floors by two large five-light mullion windows set within an ornate surround with a modillion and dentilled cornice supported by Jacobean-style brackets with carved lions heads and stylised acanthus leaves, extending down into fluted pilasters. The close studding is continued in the space between the ground and first-floor windows. The first-floor windows contain leaded lights with stained glass in foliate designs. To the right, a double-height canted bay under a polygonal roof has similar fenestration and applied timber detailing. This is followed by a projecting chimney which has two chamfered flues and a decorative terracotta panel. The west gable end has the same fenestration and treatment as the gabled bay already described. The south elevation is entirely blind without any openings.

In the late 18th-century house, number 10A, a number of original fixtures and fittings survive, notably in the staircase hall in which the fine stone floor is laid in the pattern carreaux d'octagones. The elegant dogleg stair has a panelled spandrel and closed string, and a scrolled handrail supported by two twisted cast iron rods per tread alternating with elaborate supports. A thin 18th-century two-panelled door survives on the ground floor, and one of the reception rooms contains an Adamesque fireplace with delicate classical detailing, flanked by semicircular alcoves with display shelves. On the first-floor landing, a segmental arch with a roll moulding leads to the bedrooms which retain cornices, skirting boards, and two simple wooden fireplaces with mantels supported by shaped brackets. One room also contains a small built-in panelled cupboard lined with lead.

The rear range of 1894, number 10, retains much of its high quality joinery, fixtures and fittings in varied classical and vernacular character. The hall, ground-floor rooms and landing have dentilled cornices, and numerous panelled doors with raised and fielded panels in moulded surrounds survive throughout this part of the house, some with classical architraves and dentilled pediments. The covered side passageway has a quarry-tiled floor, whilst the single-storey linking range has a mosaic floor with an embattled border. This leads to a lobby which contains an early built-in panelled phone box in unpainted wood of a rich, dark hue, as is much of the joinery. The staircase hall is now quite narrow but originally opened out into what was probably a waiting room heated by a classical fireplace with delicately carved intertwining foliate patterns. The classical style joinery is generally painted white. In the ground-floor room at the western end, one wall is lined with full-height built-in cupboards with panelled doors, a dentilled cornice and a row of short cupboards along the top filled with panels of raised metalwork in a circular geometric pattern. The large unpainted wooden fireplace surround has attached columns to the jambs supporting a dentilled cornice and frieze with a carved panel bearing the date 1894, flanked by scroll-like fishes. The decorative inset has green tiled cheeks, surrounded by pale marble.

The handsome dogleg stair has a panelled soffit and closed string, and square tapering balusters supporting a moulded handrail. The substantial newel post has a tall plinth and fluted middle section surmounted by a finial in the form of an open-sided lantern. The staircase is lit by a large stained-glass window with a heraldic shield in the upper central panel bearing the motto AIME TON FRERE. A segmental arch on the landing leads to the first-floor rooms, one of which is heated by a corner fireplace with fluted pilasters on panelled plinths. The large room at the westernmost end has a similarly grand fireplace to the one in the corresponding ground-floor room. The full-height cupboards lining the south wall are also similar to those already described but are even more ornate. The panelling has wide rails and the upper panels are embellished with semicircular arches carved in ribbon moulding with flowers in the spandrels. The horizontal panels above are carved in strapwork, some bearing the date 1894.