King Charles House

King Charles House, Nos. 4 and 5 Cornmarket and No. 30 New Street, Worcester

A house with shop, now shops with flat over and offices. The building comprises two main stages of construction. The original structure (No. 5) was built in 1577 for Richard Durant and William Blagden as one house that originally included what is now No. 29 New Street. A jettied upper storey was added when the annexe at 29 New Street was built in the 1670s. Further rebuilding occurred around 1801 to the ground floor and to the range to the right and its right return (No. 4). The building was restored in 1956.

The structure is timber-framed with brick and plaster infill, and features pinkish-brown brick in Flemish bond with flat arches of red gauged brick and stone sills. Roofs are slate where original, hipped at the right angle, with brick left end and rear stacks.

The Cornmarket facade presents a complex composition. The left part is two storeys with two first-floor windows. A three-storey range with three first-floor windows projects at the right, and a three-storey section with three first-floor windows faces the right return. The timber-framed range contains four posts dividing alternately narrow and wide bays to the upper stage, with close studding, small square frames and herringbone studding. The first floor has 12/12 and 16/16 sliding sashes. To the left section, a short columnette with hollow moulding interrupts a long columnette, with remains of a similar pilaster at the left side of the right window and at the right end, surmounted by a lintel. Above runs a jetty with step, cavetto, roll, double step and cavetto moulding.

The ground floor to the left has a wide-plank door with moulded lintel featuring double step, ovolo, step, ovolo, step and chamfer. This is followed by a renewed multi-pane shop window with a plank above inscribed "LOVE GOD WB 1577 RD HONOUR YE KING" (the letters representing the original owners). The entrance is a part-glazed door with lower raised-and-fielded panels in a surround decorated with swags, paterae and a central medallion, with brackets, frieze and dentil cornice surmounted by a timber Pompeian urn. To the right is a Regency bowed multi-pane window with curved glass, frieze and dentil cornice.

The range to the right (circa 1801) features 6/6 sashes on the first and second floors in plain reveals with sills and flat arches, and a continuous modillion eaves cornice with blocking course. The ground floor has a shop front continuing around the right corner under a continuous frieze and modillion cornice decorated with lozenge and leaf motifs; the frieze bows outwards over the windows and projects over the door with a cavetto section. An off-centre left entrance has a six-flush-and-beaded-panel door with central glazed panels and an overlight between slender fluted composite columns. Bowed multi-pane shop windows flank this entrance, with the right window curving around the corner; similar end columns carry paterae above.

The right return has 6/6 sashes on the first and second floors with plain reveals, sills and flat arches. A further central entrance to the ground floor features a six-flush-beaded-panel door in panelled reveals with a fanlight having radial glazing bars and an open pediment. To its right is a 20th-century shop window in similar Georgian style. The rear facade shows a 12/12 staircase sash and a 6/6 sash, with external stacks containing fireplaces.

Interior

The ground floor forms a continuous unit across Nos. 4 and 5 Cornmarket and retains deeply-chamfered beams. The first floor to the left section (No. 5) has panelling to three sides of the main room with step, ovolo, roll and step moulding and frieze panels decorated with a lozenge motif. Transverse beams feature deep chamfer and step and ovolo moulding. A room to the left has deeply-chamfered axial and transverse beams and rafters. There is a panelled door and a two-panelled door with an L-hinge. The rear wall retains exposed framing and diagonal braces. The roof retains purlins with renewed rafters.

The circa 1801 section contains a full-height dog-leg staircase with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail with carved tread ends. The second floor has a timber fireplace in Adam style with a central panel depicting a pastoral scene with swags and a cast-iron grate. Throughout, the plasterwork features delicately moulded cornices.

Historical Context

The dwelling originally included what is now No. 29 New Street. The inscription board attached to the building, originally set on a porch, records the date 1577 and the initials of the original lessees. In 1577, Richard Durant and William Blagden are recorded as leasing a small triangle of land in the Cornmarket from the City in order to square up their plot. An engraving by James Ross from 1799 indicates the building was originally three storeys with a jettied upper stage and four gables. The original plan is thought to have been L-shaped, following the angle of the two roads, with a kitchen, parlour and entry passage from the Cornmarket, then a shop with cellar beneath to the corner, and a hall and parlour. A fire around the 1790s partially destroyed the timber-framed building and prompted the rebuilding. The gables were removed around 1852 to 1860. The presence of fireplaces to the external stacks and alternately proud and flush bricks to the left end of the 1801 phase indicates an intention to replace the entire timber-framed section with brick.

The house is traditionally associated with the escape of Charles I after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Pevsner describes it as a "fine" building, noting especially the "Late Georgian bowed shop windows" and the "graceful Adamish doorway". The building received a City of Worcester Award in 1991.