The Corner House

The Corner House

This is a two-storey building with an attic, built of brown-red brick laid in English bond with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It is aligned east-west and has a rectangular plan.

The principal elevation faces north. At ground floor level are two wide, timber, bowed shop-front windows, each of 21 lights, with plain fascias supported on moulded timber pilasters and panelled soffits. A central arched two-leaf door with glazing bars stands between them. The first floor has three timber casement windows with mullions, transoms and leaded lights. A moulded stone cornice runs across, supported at each end by wide brick pilasters with moulded stone capitals. The main range has a steep gabled roof with end stacks and a central hip at the rear. The east and west gable ends are of Dutch form with stone copings resting on corner pilasters.

The east elevation features a 24-light window at ground floor with a timber surround, and two casement windows with mullions, transoms and leaded lights at first floor. A decorative cast-iron bracket supports a suspended sign. Above the first-floor windows is a stone plaque bearing the initials WJC and the date 1929, recording W J Courtauld's involvement. A plaque at the west elevation is said to bear the initials CCC (for Constance Cicely Courtauld, his wife) and the same date.

To the south of the east gable is a two-storey flat-roofed wing resting on a horizontally tapering stone plinth, with a three-light window at ground floor and an iron gate leading to a rear courtyard. The flanking two-storey wings are blind at ground floor but have a three-light window on the east wing and a single light on the west wing at first floor. The rear elevation contains a late 20th-century single-storey extension at ground floor, a metal fire escape leading to a late 20th-century first-floor doorway beneath a pent roof with tile-hung sides, and a late 20th-century Velux window above.

The main entrance leads into a small porch with a mostly glazed door with arched upper lights, opening into a large space. The walls are fitted with pilasters and simply moulded cornices. Late 20th-century partitioning has divided this space partly to form offices. An enlarged opening to the ground-floor room of the east wing is accessed by stairs with a late 20th-century staircase. The ground-floor room of the east wing serves as staff facilities.

The principal open-well staircase rises from the centre of the main room, comprising simply moulded newel posts with stick balusters arranged in groups of three. The first-floor principal room has moulded cornices and axial bridging beams. At the west end is a tiled fireplace with a carved timber surround. A late 20th-century partition creates a corridor to the rear of the room, accessed via the stairs and through an enlarged opening in the first-floor room of the east rear wing. A central staircase at the rear leads to the attic, where two rooms retain original fireplaces with simple beaded detailing and contemporary two-panel doors.