40, Knight Street

This is a late 16th-century house, with significant alterations and refronting in the early 18th and early 19th centuries, and retaining 18th-century interiors. Originally timber-framed, the building now has two storeys and steep, old red tile roofs, hipped over the main part but gabled to the north. The north part of the building originally served as the service wing of a larger 16th-century house. The brick facade represents a partial rebuilding of the earlier structure. The facade displays a seamless transition between 18th and 19th-century brickwork, with red brick on the south and yellow brick on the north, without corresponding internal structural divisions.

The rear features a projecting staircase. The south part of the front was refronted around 1720 with red brick, incorporating lighter red dressings and gauged and moulded brick architectural details. Giant order pilasters define the corners. The two-storey, four-window-wide section has a parapet and segmental-headed window openings with projecting brick keystones. Sash windows, with 6/6 panes, are slightly recessed; the first-floor sashes have segmental heads, while those on the ground floor are square. The second window from the north has a higher sill level over the front door. A projecting plinth and brick entablature extend over the pilasters, featuring a panel on the parapet. Pilaster detailing includes a necking below the entablature, and the floor band and entablature mouldings break forward over each window's keystone. A narrow, two-storey extension of yellow brick was added in the 19th century, extending the brick front northward; it lacks a parapet and has a token brick band, with windows set lower than the main section. The windows have segmental-headed openings with rendered arches and slightly recessed sash windows.

The entrance hall and a panelled room on the south side retain their 18th-century character. The house is documented in Nathaniel Lloyd’s “A History of English Brickwork” (1928). It is a notable building, with a brick facade that predates that of number 28 Knight Street.