26 Broad Street

26 Broad Street

A house or possibly inn constructed in the mid to late 18th century, with what may be a 17th-century building at its core. The building was extended northward during the mid-19th century and to the rear by 1885. The front range was converted to shop use by 1954 and is currently used as offices. Late-19th-century outbuildings to the rear were converted to mews houses in the late 20th century.

The principal west range facing Broad Street is built of red brick laid in Flemish bond with a stucco ground floor and stucco window dressings. The roof is slate. The rear east ranges, partially of late-20th-century construction, are of painted brick.

The building is arranged on a U-shaped plan with a principal western range fronting Broad Street and two lower ranges running eastward to form a courtyard. The two northern bays of the front west range project forward slightly and lie under a separate roof from the southern three bays.

The principal front range comprises two distinct sections. The southern three bays are three storeys tall with a stone-coped, painted brick parapet concealing a pitched roof. The northernmost bay of this southern section is wider than the two southernmost bays. The central bay on the ground floor contains a carriage entrance leading through to the courtyard. Immediately to the south is a six-panelled door with a plain rectangular overlight. The two southernmost bays contain a pair of two-pane sash windows set within stucco blind arcading with flanking Doric pilasters. The first and second floors each have three windows with stepped, keyed stucco lintels. First-floor windows have two-over-two glazing, second-floor windows have three-over-three glazing. Above the second-floor windows is a modillioned band.

The two northernmost bays project forward slightly and are two storeys tall rather than three, with the first floor occupying the same volume as the first and second floors of the southern bays. A stone-coped, painted brick parapet with modillioned band conceals a partially hipped roof. The ground floor has heavy rusticated stucco dressings. Two round-headed two-over-two sash windows are set within moulded and vermiculated surrounds with large modillion keystones rising to a deep sill band. Below the sill band, the lower part of the first floor is stuccoed with pilasters rising to the jambs of the first-floor windows. The first-floor windows are two-over-two sashes set within heavy architraves with segmental pediments on enriched corbels. A pair of ridge chimney stacks rise from the north party wall and the central bay.

Two doorways with late-20th-century doors are set on both the north and south walls of the carriage way. A timber sash window with a central mullion is positioned on the north wall. The carriage way and courtyard to the rear are paved in York stone slabs.

To the rear, the easternmost bay of the southern three-bay range carries a small lean-to with timber casement windows to its north and east faces. Above, the first floor has a Yorkshire sliding sash window with nine-by-six glazing, while the second floor has exposed timber framing with a central rail and a fixed timber window possibly occupying the location of an earlier window. The east elevation of the carriage-entrance bay carries a six-over-six glazed timber sash window under a segmental-arched brick head on the first floor. The two easternmost bays of the northern two-bay range have a tall ground-floor doorway with a 20th-century door and plain rectangular overlight with a central mullion. On the first floor are a pair of timber sash windows with six-over-six glazing, segmental-arched heads and stone or stucco cills, with a dentillated eaves course above.

Further to the east, the mews houses step down to two storeys adjoining the front range, then to one storey. Both north and south ranges have pitched roofs and are of painted brick, containing a variety of timber casement and sash windows.