14 Cavendish Arcade and 3-6 The Colonnade

Parade of shops, built in 1864, probably to designs by the architect Henry Currey. Remodelled in 1900 and cast-iron canopy added in 1909.

MATERIALS: the parade is constructed in ashlar sandstone, now mostly concealed behind smooth render, with timber and glass shopfronts and a roof covering of slate. The colonnade along the eastern elevation is of cast iron and glass.

EXTERIOR: the building is a single-storey range of shop units within eight segmental-arched openings and two additional flat-headed openings on the north end of the range. The three southernmost arches were remodelled in the late C20 and are unified as a single shop unit, with fully glazed shopfronts above a granite plinth. The four intermediate bays house separate shop units with matching timber shop fronts of a tripartite design, comprising three round arches rising up from the stall riser, within a segmental arched frame, and a doorway within the southernmost arch (at number 3 the doorway is in the northernmost arch). The northernmost segmental-arched opening now contains an entrance to the Cavendish Shopping Arcade adjoining to the west. The northernmost bay of the parade is an ashlar sandstone-faced shop unit with large windows within a timber frame, with a stone parapet. Adjoining the parade to the south is an ashlar sandstone-faced section of the former Thermal Baths, now converted into a shopping arcade. The west elevation of The Colonnade also adjoins the shopping arcade. A glazed canopy runs across the length of the eastern elevation of the building. It comprises eighteen, ornate, cast-iron columns on stone or concrete plinths, with floriated spandrels and a frieze with an interlocking circles design, supporting a curved glass roof with cast-iron ridge detail.

INTERIOR: it is understood that when first listed in 1970, number 5 The Colonnade, formerly Blezard’s The Chemist, contained fine shop fittings likely dating the C19.

Address formerly listed as 1-6 The Colonnade.

Listing NGR: SK0585073604