18, The Wash

A former seed merchant’s retail department and offices, dating to circa 1860, and altered in the late 1920s. The building is constructed of stucco over yellow stock brick, with a hipped roof covered in Welsh slate and a yellow brick stack featuring oversailing courses.

The exterior is of three storeys and is in an Italianate style, presenting three windows to the front. The first and second floors have wooden sash windows with central glazing bars, recessed within moulded stucco architrave surrounds and with aprons beneath the second-floor windows. There are rusticated quoins at the left and right sides. A large, blank panel with a moulded frame sits in the spandrel between the first and second floors. The ground floor has a shopfront with Tuscan pilasters on the left and right, and two intermediate antae subdividing three bays. The shopfront features arcaded timber windows, a 3/4 glazed timber door with diagonal bars forming two crosses, fixed sidelights and a fanlight subdivided into seven narrow panes. Triglyphs are located at the left and right of the main fascia, topped by a moulded cornice with breaks at the ends.

The east-facing elevation, constructed of yellow brick and overlooking Maidenhead Yard, has three windows on the first floor and four windows on the second, each with moulded architrave surrounds and aprons. A recessed entrance door is present on the ground floor.

The interior was not inspected during the listing process.

The building was originally constructed as the retail departmental offices for McMullens’ seed warehouse located in Maidenhead Yard. The front elevation was remodelled with stucco and a new shopfront after the realignment of Mill Bridge in 1927.