23, 25 AND 27, GOLD STREET

This is a large house, now divided into two units, dating from the late 18th century with a section of earlier core and an early 19th-century addition. It is constructed of red brick with peg tile and slate roofs, and features red brick stacks. The building has an L-shaped layout.

The front, west-facing elevation is red brick with tuck-pointed ruddled mortar. It has a long three-window range, with a prominent high-keyed round-arched waggon way between the centre and north-end windows. The windows are arranged in two-storied canted bays with brick bases, featuring simple horned sashes with margin glazing bars and panelled woodwork between the storeys. A hipped leaded roof, aligned with a wooden modillioned cornice, is interrupted by two stucco bands running along the elevation. The roof is topped with a parapet and a peg-tiled mansard roof with five flat-roofed dormer windows, each containing a two-light casement with 4x3 panes. There are three stacks located at the gable ends and centre of the building. A doorway is located between the centre and south bay (number 27), featuring a dentil cornice hood, a decorative entablature with feather, rosette and festoon enrichment, and a five-panel door, the upper panel now glazed. A simpler doorway is located at number 23, with a cornice hood, panelled doorcase, and a moulded architrave leading to a six-panel door, the upper four panels now glazed and the lower panel recessed.

The rear, east-facing elevation of number 23 is obscured by a more recent building (The Malthouse, which is not listed), but contains a 20th-century four-panel door. The street range of number 27 is visible, comprising three conjoined, two-storied brick additions, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest wing, to the north, has a gabled shape with dentils. It features a ground floor segment-headed French window with each door leaf bearing upper glazing (2x3 panes) and a lower panel (4x1 panes), along with a 3x4-paned segment-headed window on the first floor. Two 19th-century additions are located to the south, each with a monopitch roof, deeper and taller at the south end. They are constructed of red brick, incorporating some burnt headers, and have four segment-headed sash windows – three 3x4-paned sashes and one 4x4-paned sash. A substantial stack is situated between the centre and south addition.

Inside number 27, a 19th-century staircase remains, featuring stick balusters, turned newels, and a wreathed mahogany handrail. In number 23, the ground floor room at the front has an oak ceiling with exposed joists, of a late 16th/early 17th-century style. The house was formerly connected to the rear malting.