Victoria House

Victoria House is a terrace of four houses, dating from the late 18th century, located on Foregate Street in Worcester. It has undergone later additions and alterations, including a 1960s shop front at ground floor level. The building is constructed of red/brown brick in irregular Flemish bond, with ashlar dressings. It has a concealed slate roof and three stack details, all with oversailing features and decorative pots. The overall plan is double depth and L-shaped.

The principal elevation has four storeys and ten windows on the first floor (a 2:2:3:3 arrangement). From the first floor upwards, the facade features raised-rusticated quoins, a continuous frieze, a cyma-recta cornice, and a low parapet. The first and second floor windows are 6/6 sashes, while the third floor windows are 3/3 sashes. All windows are set in flush frames and have flat, gauged brick arches with raised keystones; the first and second floor windows have cornices, and the second and third floor windows have sills. The ground floor now has plate glass windows and doors.

The return elevation, overlooking Shaw Street, has a stack at the west end. It has four windows across the front. The ground floor on the left side is in chamfered rustication, with quoins to the left corner. The first floor windows are 6/6 sashes, the second floor windows are 8/8, and the third floor windows are 4/4. All windows are in plain reveals and have sills. A part-glazed door with a fanlight sits within a Doric-style pilaster door case featuring incised Greek-key mouldings. A 20th-century casement window to the left has a flat voussoired arch, and further 20th-century flush doors to the far left are similarly arched above.

The interior retains original joinery, including panelled shutters. Historical records suggest that numbers 63-66 were once the Hop Pole coaching inn, which was constructed by 1749. Victoria House was established in 1842 as a department store specializing in drapery items, occupying both ground and first floors and remaining operational in 1903. The building occupies an important corner site and is considered a notable example of Georgian architecture in Worcester.