16, Northgate Street

16 Northgate Street comprises two properties formerly numbered 14 and 16, now combined into a continuous range. It is a five-bay house of two storeys and attic, dating from the late 17th century with alterations to the main elevation in the late 18th century.

The building is constructed of stuccoed brick with a roof covered in plain clay tile and brick stacks. The plan is single depth with parallel projecting gabled wings to the rear.

The five-bay main elevation sits on a slightly projecting plinth with a moulded cornice at the eaves and a string course between the ground and first floors. A wide entry on the right-hand side provides access to the rear court. A second doorway, similarly detailed with Doric pilasters and entablature, surrounds a fielded and panelled door beneath a rectangular fanlight. The three ground floor windows are eight-over-eight sashes with moulded architraves, while the first floor windows are six-over-six sashes in similar architraves. The roof features four gabled dormers, each fitted with side-hung timber casements. Brick ridge stacks are positioned at either end and in the centre.

The centre of Warwick was radically altered by fire on 5 September 1694. The fire began to the west of Northgate Street but spread rapidly when householders moved smouldering valuable furniture to St Mary's Church at the south end of Northgate Street. The church itself caught fire, and flames spread along Northgate Street, destroying all houses on the east side and damaging those to the west. Some rear walls of the east-side houses appear to have survived. The houses were rebuilt in the period immediately following the fire before the end of the 17th century, though with alterations in the later 18th century, particularly to the detailing of their main elevations. By 1896, trade directories indicate several were in commercial or professional use and some as lodgings, though some remained private dwellings. By that date, number 16 housed an office for Warwickshire County Council. In the early 21st century, the houses were in use as offices for district council departments, together with late 20th-century offices built to the rear.

The building has group value with other listed buildings along both the east and west sides of Northgate Street.