Former Canal Warehouse, 19-23 Bridge Street

Former Canal Warehouse, 19-23 Bridge Street

A former warehouse with ground floor shop and office units, built in 1865 to the designs of architects Bellamy and Hardy.

The building is constructed of red brick with buff brick and stone dressings, beneath a pitched concrete tile roof. It occupies a wedge-shaped site between the canal and Bridge Street, with a trapezoid plan set over three storeys.

The building comprises six bays arranged over three storeys, defined by string courses, with curved north-east and north-west corner bays. The principal elevation faces Bridge Street. The ground floor is divided into two shop units, each with separate entrances and shop fronts. The western shop front features a pair of large four-over-four sliding sash shop windows with transom lights above; the western transom light includes a decorative cast iron grille. The shop front is divided by chamfered pilasters topped with cast iron fleur-de-lys, the emblem of Lincoln, with a corbelled cornice above. A recessed glazed door with top light sits to the left. The eastern shop front features a door with arched top light and two large windows to its right: one arched and one rectangular, set within a projecting moulded frame, each with a prominent keystone at the head.

The first and second floors are delineated by brick dentil courses. The two upper floors each contain six recessed windows in buff brick surrounds. First-floor windows are sashes with margin lights and keystones above. Second-floor windows are pairs of casements with arched glazing. The projecting eaves cornice above is supported by buff brick corbels.

The curved corner bays are slightly recessed. Both display painted signage advertising A Hare and Sons to the first floor, and a carved date stone dated 1865 flanked by buff brick panels to the second floor. The ground floor of the east corner bay has a fixed window with glazing bars; the west corner bay features a pair of glazed doors with top light incorporating a decorative cast iron grille.

The east elevation is the narrowest, featuring an arched doorway with keystone to the first floor, while the blank floors above show brickwork scarring between the string courses. The ground floor has a shop window.

The west elevation displays a shop window matching those of the western shop unit on the north elevation, with windows above echoing the same pattern. A large arched doorway with keystone head occupies the centre. Above are two loading doors, one to each floor, both slightly offset and with exposed lintels. Above these is a gabled dormer featuring a projecting hoist mechanism.

The south elevation, abutting the canal edge, comprises a pair of gabled frontages. Each features arched windows to the ground floor: the west side has a central arched doorway while the east side has a central arched window. Windows above are set within segmental arched brick heads, with three six-over-six sashes to the first floors and two pairs of casements to the second. Both gables feature tumbled brick eaves.

The upper floors are understood to be divided into two rooms each, with the western ground floor unit further subdivided. A cast iron chimney piece is understood to survive on the ground floor. The longitudinal beams to the ground and first floors are supported on cast iron pillars.