Numbers 2 And 3 Johnsons Yard

Numbers 2 and 3 Johnsons Yard are two houses dating from around 1800, located in a continuous run on Church Street, Saffron Walden. They are timber-framed with plastered walls and have peg and pantiled roofs, with red brick stacks. The buildings form an L-shaped plan, consisting of a principal range and a short wing at the western end. The houses are two storeys high with a partial attic.

The south-facing front elevation has four windows. C20 panel-decorated pargetting adorns the front. On the ground floor, the eastern side features a repaired, early 19th-century tripartite sash window. Its glazing pattern is 1x4, 3x4, and 1x4 panes. A doorway has a flat bracketed hood and a moulded architrave. The door itself is of six panels: the upper two glazed, the lower four flush and bead-moulded. To the west is a second early 19th-century tripartite sash window. Twin C20 sash windows with 3x4 panes are also present. The first floor has an early 19th-century sash window with some repairs, a small C20 casement window, a second early 19th-century sash window and a C20 casement. A dormer window is located at the western end, featuring a C20 2-light casement with 4x3 panes. A stack is situated off-centre to the west, and a second is at the eastern gable end.

The western wing is lower than the rest of the building and is constructed of colourwashed brick. C20 pargetting is partially continued from the front. The principal eastern face of this wing has a single window range, with a ground-floor C20 sash window (3x3 panes) and a simple C20 door with an upper glazed panel. The first floor has a C19 sash window with a moulded architrave and glazing bars (3x4 panes).

Inside, the timber framing is largely obscured, but axial ceiling joists with waney edges suggest construction around 1800. A second doorway was once located to the east of the western wing, and the two houses were originally a symmetrical pair.