94, Bradford Street

1082/0/10013 BRADFORD STREET 28-SEP-05 94

II Mid C16 house. A timber-framed and rendered house dating from the mid-C16, with C19 and C20 additions. Plain tile roof. Two storey, three bay timber frame with later extensions to rear. Façade: remodelled in the C20. Central front door with classical arch surround, flanked by c.1920 leaded light windows. At ground floor, windows have 6 lights each, at first floor, 5 lights to left hand side, 2 light and 3 light windows to right hand side. Rear elevation: two gables with long C20 leaded light windows and central door. Interior: the ground floor rooms have original exposed spine beams and floor joists, all with run-out chamfer stops. The south wall has exposed pegged C16 studs. The first floor has an open truss, with splayed head posts and mortices for arched braces. Exposed C16 studs with internal arched bracing. C16 window with shutter groove, infilled on rear wall, now internal. Attic: C16 clasped purlin roof with collars on principal rafters and cranked wind braces. Face halved scarf joints with under squinted abutments and side pegs to purlins. Remains of wattle and daub infill. C19 roof trusses to rear wing.

Summary of importance: No. 94 Bradford Street meets the criteria for listing due to the architectural interest, intactness and rarity of its C16 timber frame concealed behind an altered façade. It has group value with adjacent listed buildings on Bradford Street, which is renowned for the number and quality of its medieval and Tudor house, a reflection of the prosperity of the woollen cloth trade in Braintree.