15,17 AND 19, HIGH STREET

This is a group of three buildings at 15, 17, and 19 High Street, Kings Langley. The structure likely dates back to the 16th century or earlier, with a 17th-century rear wing added to the southeast. The brick facade was updated in the 18th century, featuring an engraved inscription "JL E 1781" above the door of number 19. A section of the building, the northern bay, was rebuilt in brick around 1900, with a rear gable.

The building has a timber frame, with brick nogging at the rear, a tile-hung southeast gable, and a painted red brick front with tuck pointing. It is a long, two-story range with a partial cellar, fronting onto the High Street. Originally, the layout may have comprised a row of four tenements or a three-unit cross-passage house with a wide through passage at the south end of number 17. The other rooms included a hall and south parlour in number 19, a narrow service bay in the north part of number 17, and a wide rear bay, possibly a separate tenement at number 15. A 17th-century rear wing, gabled to the southeast, is wider than the south parlour bay. A 17th-century internal rear wall chimney is located in the hall, and turned balusters are found in the enclosure to the staircase in the parlour.

The entire building was subdivided in 1781, creating a double-fronted house at the south (number 19) and a house and shop in the north half (numbers 15 and 17). The west elevation is two stories high, with pilasters centered and near each end. The north half has two recessed sash windows on the first floor, each with 3/3 panes, while the south half has two 3-light wooden casement windows. Number 15 features a wide recessed sash window with 10/10 panes next to a simple boarded door, both with segmental arches. Number 17 has a late Georgian shopfront with a canted bay window and projecting fascia. Matching 20th-century canted bays with fascias now flank the boarded door under a segmental arch at number 19.

The interior has jowled posts, curved tension bracing, curved braces to heavy tie-beams, a queen-strut clasped purlin roof structure, and axial beams supporting floors. Walls have storey-height studs spaced approximately one meter apart; an old photograph indicates the north gable originally had a similar framing pattern. The 17th-century rear wing has a clasped-purlin roof with straight braces from jowled posts to the tie-beam. The cellar under number 15 has flint and stone blocks in the south wall.