33 to 39 St James' Street, including premises occupied by Kwik Fit

This building was constructed in 1908 as the offices, showroom and warehouse of the Building Material Company (King's Lynn) Limited. It was built by Bardell Brothers of King's Lynn, possibly to a design by Augustus Frederic Scott of Norwich. As of 2019, part of the building is occupied by a car repair workshop and part remains vacant.

An adjoining former 19th-century grammar school building, into which the range fronting St James' Street has been incorporated, is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

Construction and Plan

The building has an externally-expressed reinforced-concrete frame with infill panels of either brick, brick with steel-framed clerestory windows, or timber- and steel-framed windows, some with shallow aprons.

The building is of three storeys and comprises two rectangular blocks aligned north to south, which overlap at the north-east and south-west corners. The former office and showroom range, forming the southern range fronting St James' Street, is of three by five bays. The former warehouse range, forming the northern section, is of three by six bays.

In the late 20th century the building was internally subdivided to create two retail units. One unit (vacant in 2019) was created from the former grammar school building (not of special interest) and a section of the former showroom and office. A second unit was formed by combining the remaining section of the former office and showroom with the former warehouse. The upper floors of the latter range are now (2019) inaccessible due to the removal of the lift and staircase.

Exterior

The building is of a functionalist style with shallow cornices to the upper two floors and a shallow parapet with a moulded flat top. Concrete columns on the south, east and north façades all have ovolo moulded edges with run-out stops.

St James' Street Elevation (South)

The St James' Street elevation of the former office and showroom range is of three bays. Together with the adjoining former grammar school building (not of special interest), its ground floor is spanned by a late-20th-century timber shopfront. The centre and left-hand bays have six-light windows with transoms behind iron railings, while the right-hand end bay has a plate glass window. Above is a deep fascia. Photographic evidence shows that the left-hand end bay, which now (2019) accommodates the unit's main doorway, was originally a vehicular entrance.

The two upper floors have timber-framed casement windows of four lights with double transoms to each bay. At first-floor level the cornice projects around the concrete columns to give the appearance of capitals, while the second floor has a simple fret frieze and a dentilled and bracketed cornice with a faceted soffit. Above, the concrete columns rise through the parapet and are topped by flat, moulded caps.

Right-Hand (East) Return of Office and Showroom Range

The right-hand return of the former showroom and office range is of five bays. The concrete columns at ground-floor level are obscured by cement rendered walling and a late-20th-century single-storey addition. The first two bays on the upper floors have brick infill panels (now painted), while the remaining three bays all have brick infill panels with steel-framed clerestory windows. The exception is the fifth bay on the first floor, which has a boarded-up casement window or taking-in door. Rising above this bay is a lift motor room with exposed concrete framing and brick infill panels.

Projecting eastwards from the north end of the former showroom and office range, at the point where the two sections of the 1908 building overlap, is the one-and-a-half bay south wall of the former warehouse range. This has brick infill panels to the upper two floors, with a late-20th-century window opening (now boarded) to the first-floor half bay.

Late-20th-Century Addition

Placed in the angle of the two ranges is the late-20th-century addition which accommodates the car workshop reception. It is of painted brick with a four-bay east wall containing three uPVC casement windows to the left-hand side of an aluminium-framed doorway. Rising above its left-hand end, obscuring the ground floor of the warehouse's south wall, is a small section of 19th-century or earlier brick walling from a now demolished house that stood on the north side of Tower/Cozens Court.

East Façade of Warehouse Range

The east façade of the former warehouse range, which overlooks a small car park serving the car repair workshop, is of six bays, with the left-hand end bay being slightly wider than the other five bays. All the ground-floor bays have early-21st-century roller shutters beneath a late-20th-century fascia which extends round the corner to the Regent Way elevation. The upper-floor windows are all boarded, though photographic evidence shows that all the original steel-framed casement windows survive in situ. The first bay on the second floor has an eight-light casement window with a four-light transom, while the second bay has a taking-in door. The remaining bays all contain six-light casement windows with three-light transoms and shallow aprons. The exception is the first and second bays on the first floor, which now have brick infill panels with late-20th-century single- and three-light casement windows.

North Façade (Regent Way)

The north face of the former warehouse range, which fronts Regent Way, is of three bays, again with six-light casement windows with three-light transoms (now boarded) to the first and second floors. The concrete framing at ground-floor level is obscured by brick walling (now painted), with an off-centre right doorway to the centre bay and a boarded-up late-20th-century shopfront to the third bay.

West Side of Warehouse Range

The west side of the former warehouse range is of five bays with its ground floor obscured by earlier brick walling, including a gabled end wall, against which it was built in 1908. The left-hand end bays to both upper floors have brick infill panels, while all the other bays have clerestory windows. Those on the first floor have now been boarded over, while those on the second floor have been removed and the openings infilled with brick.

Projecting westwards at the south end of the former warehouse range, at the point where the two sections of the 1908 building overlap, is the one-and-a-half bay north wall of the former office and showroom range. Its ground floor is again obscured by earlier brick walling against which it was built, while the upper-floor clerestory windows have now been removed and the openings bricked up.

West Wall of Office/Showroom Range

The west wall of the former office/showroom range is of five bays, with the 19th-century former grammar school building (not of special interest) adjoining the fourth and fifth bays at the south end. The first bay at ground-floor level has two square window openings (the right-hand opening boarded over), while the second bay has three rectangular window openings (the central opening boarded over), all with steel-framed casements. The clerestory windows to the first three bays of the upper floors have now been removed and the openings bricked up.

Interior

The ground floors of the former office and showroom range and the former grammar school range (not of special interest) have been opened out to create a single, open-plan space. The exposed concrete columns in the 1908 range have ovolo moulded edges with run-out stops.

The ground floor of the former warehouse range and the northern section of the former showroom and office range has exposed concrete framing throughout, with ovolo moulded edges with run-out stops to the columns. The ceiling beams in the former showroom and office range also have ovolo moulded edges with run-out stops, while those in the former warehouse range have plain chamfers with run-out stops. The original lift has now been removed, but the board marked concrete walls of the lift shaft itself still survive in situ, with the scar of the now removed staircase visible on the shaft's south wall. Internal access to the late-20th-century reception block is by way of aluminium-framed windows set within the north face of the 19th-century or earlier brick walling from a now demolished house that stood on the north side of Tower/Cozens Court. The floor is concrete throughout.

As internal access to the upper floors has now been removed, this area of the building was not inspected. Photographic evidence, however, shows that the concrete framing is exposed throughout.