35 And 36, Broad Street

This is a pair of houses, probably originally with shops, now serving as a café and restaurant with flats above. They are located on Broad Street in Worcester and likely date from the late 18th century, although they may have earlier origins. Later additions and alterations include a 19th-century shop front on the left and a shop front from the 1970s on the right.

The houses are constructed of dark pinkish-red brick in Flemish bond, with the right-hand side painted. They feature dark-red gauged brick flat arches and stone sills, a concealed roof, and brick end and party wall stacks with an oversailing course and decorative pots. The layout is approximately U-shaped, with a main range and service ranges to the rear. The building has three storeys and a facade with four plus one first-floor windows. The first and second floors have 6/6 sash windows in plain reveals with sills, set within flat arches. There is an eaves band and a modillion cornice, topped by a low coped parapet.

The ground floor features a shop front on the left with outer fluted Doric pilasters, 2/1 plate glass windows, a canted entrance with glazing, and a fascia. An original carriage opening with a timber lintel on plain pilasters is situated to the right of the shop front. A brick and glazed shop front occupies the remaining space on the ground floor. At the rear, behind the carriage opening, are two Diocletian recesses with keystones, one above the other, with a further round-arched blind recess above. The rear ranges retain numerous 6/6 sash windows, some of which are flush, and are set in plain reveals. A six-panel door with a fanlight is located to the rear on the left side of the property. A single window on the rear right range has a fluted lintel.

The interior of the rear left range is said to retain an original staircase with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail.

Historically, Broad Street was a commercially important thoroughfare in Worcester. While several houses along Broad Street are known to have 17th-century and earlier origins, the design of numbers 35 and 36 most closely relates to the adjacent terraces in Bridge Street.

The listed buildings in Broad Street form a significant group, including numbers 10, 10A, 11 with the Crown Inn, 12, 18, 19, 29, 32-36, 40, 41, 43-49, 51-63, 69, 70, and the Church of All Saints. Numbers 29, 32-36, and the Church create a further group with numbers 2-22 in Bridge Street and number 2 Quay Street. The property occupies an important site at the entrance to a primary route through the city.