Habitat And Rj'S Homeshop

HABITAT AND RJ'S HOMESHOP, Long Row West, Nottingham

Facades of three former merchants' houses dating to 1705, circa 1720, and circa 1740. The buildings were converted to shops in the late 19th century, then to a department store around 1920. They were largely demolished around 1990 and are now divided into two units. The exteriors are painted brick with painted ashlar and brick dressings, featuring coped gables. The structures are currently roofless.

The left-hand house has a canopy carried on four cast-iron Doric columns covering a blocked doorway flanked by shop windows. Above this, two floors each contain five glazing bar sashes linked by a brick band, with the upper windows having moulded surrounds and projecting keystones. Above these, three coped gables each contain a glazing bar sash in a projecting surround with keystone.

The central house features a ground floor arcade with three cast-iron Doric columns and 20th-century shopfronts. The two floors above each have four glazing bar sashes with brick flat arches and keystones, linked by a brick band, with the upper windows being taller. Above this stands a bracketed wooden cornice, followed by four pedimented dormers each containing a two-light casement.

The right-hand house has a ground floor arcade with two cast-iron columns covering a 20th-century shopfront and passage entrance. Above are three glazing bar sashes with the central one blocked. A brick band separates this from three similar sashes with painted surrounds above, and above these are three smaller sashes under a wooden cornice.

At the north end of the site is a large cave, probably medieval in date, containing several flared rock columns. At the south end is a later cave, now filled.

The basement contains various vaulted cellars mostly carved from sandstone rock, with 17th-century brick barrel vaulted roofs. One cave contains a round pillar with capital and lighting niches, reputed to be medieval. The western block has pairs of very large oak beams serving all upper floors, though walls have been replaced by steel girders. To the rear is a single flight return staircase with splat balusters, some replaced, rising through the upper three floors. The central block contains two original panelled rooms on the first floor. The right-hand room has two full walls of tall, deeply raised and fielded panels. The left room has three walls of simpler fielded panelling with over-doors, cupboards, and an overmantel. Both rooms retain their moulded cornices and original fireplaces on the upper rooms.

Behind the central block are two 16th-century warehouses, now only visible in the attics where the trusses remain exposed. A single flight return staircase with two turned balusters per head rises through three upper floors, and a splat baluster back staircase also runs through three floors.