40 And 42, St Andrew Street

House, now subdivided as two properties with ground floor shops, offices (No.42) and residence (No.40), located on the north side of St Andrew Street in Hertford. Dating to the early 18th century and subdivided in the 19th century, this building represents an important example of an early 18th-century town house combining sophisticated architectural treatment with a post-medieval plan.

The building is constructed of red-brown brick laid in Flemish bond with cherry red dressings. The ground floor front features 19th-century stucco with masonry lining and stuccoed sides. The roof is a double hipped old tiled structure, hidden behind a parapet with flat stone coping. The building has a square red brick stack at the centre right with long clay pots, and two twin flue stacks positioned at the left.

The façade comprises four bays across three storeys and a basement. The first floor has four closely spaced windows: two sashes with 12 panes at the left and two at the right without glazing bars, all with segmental heads beneath rubbed red brick segmental arches with red brick jambs. The second floor has shorter windows, one at the left with glazing bars and the remainder plain glazed. A plat band with moulded lower course runs at second-floor level, with a similar band (now stuccoed) at first-floor level. Above the second-floor windows sits a brick dentilled and moulded cornice.

The ground floor of No.42 features a 19th-century small-paned bow window at the left with pilaster surround, fascia and cornice hood supported on consoles. A 20th-century glazed door in a semicircular headed archway with a 20th-century replica small hood is positioned at the right. No.40 occupies the third bay and has a panelled door in an arched recess with projecting keyblock. Two plain glazed windows to the right sit in segmental arched openings with keyblocks.

The rear elevation is of red brick with three sash windows on the first and second floors; the middle windows are positioned off-centre and dropped to light half-landings on the staircase.

Internally, No.40 retains more original 18th-century fittings, including diagonally set fireplaces against the party wall. The front room features bold moulded wood cornice and a corner cupboard with scalloped shelves. A dogleg stair in the rear hall has Tuscan column newels, open string, bracketed treads, column on-bobbin-on-vase balusters (two per tread), moulded handrails, newel caps and panelled dado. The half-landing window has heavy quadrant bars. First floor front and rear rooms are panelled with moulded wood cornices and 3-panel doors. The rear room has been modified and subdivided in the corner, with access from the half-landing raised by winders. The basement has a brick paviour floor and a bacon hutch of riven lath latticework at the foot of the stair.

No.42 has been substantially altered but retains a heavy moulded 18th-century wood cornice and panelling on three walls in the front room. A winder stair in the centre leads to the first floor, where the front room has simple 18th-century panelling and cornice comparable with No.40. The upper flight of stair to the second floor has a close string, pilaster newel and column on vase balusters.

Originally the building had a central door into a front hall with a double-depth plan containing four main rooms on each floor, substantially modified when subdivided in the 19th century.