26 St Nicholas Street

House, built in 1841, renovated in 1987 and converted to offices.

MATERIALS: Brown brick walls and slate roof.

PLAN: Two-storey L-plan building, facing north to St Nicholas Street, curved at north-east corner.

EXTERIOR: Two-storey house, in brown brick, with a hipped slate roof. The rear slopes of the roof bear two brown-brick chimney stacks. The front (north) elevation to St Nicholas Street has three symmetrical bays, with an additional bay to the west comprising a sash window (replacing an earlier casement window) over a former carriage arch (now a door). The front elevation has a central timber-panelled door within recessed reveals, and a replacement spoked fanlight over. To the right of the door, a mid-C19 boot scrape survives, and the wall above bears a plaque commemorating the late C20 renovation which reads RESTORED BY / KING’S LYNN / PRESERVATION / TRUST 1987. The former carriage arch was infilled with a timber door, side panels and long overlight in 1987. The windows are all replacement horned timber sashes (1987), with the exception of a small number of casement windows to the rear elevation. The east elevation to Chapel Street has two blind bays, and a sash window to the centre of the first floor. The west elevation shows evidence of former door and window openings, infilled with red brick in 1987. The rear (south) elevation has a blocked, round-arched opening at its east end, and the rear projection at the west end appears to have been altered and extended at first floor height (as is evidenced by the use of stone) in the late C19 or early C20.

INTERIOR: The original plan form remains relatively intact, with the exception of the stair, which was turned around during renovation works in 1987. The front door opens to a central stair hall, off which there are two original timber-panelled doors to the east and west providing access to rooms overlooking St Nicholas Street. At ground and first-floor levels, the north-west room has a plain cornice, and a mid-C19 fireplace to the centre of the south wall, flanked by an elliptical-arched niche on either side. The north-east room contains a plain mid-C19 fireplace to the centre of the south wall at ground and first floor levels. At the end (south) of the stair hall, the corridor turns west, and a glazed-partitioned wall provides borrowed light from an office to the rear corridor. The former carriage arch at the west end of the building has stone slabs to its entrance porch, and two glazed partitions (introduced 1987) dividing the former carriage passage into office spaces.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: A red brick boundary wall and railings, constructed in the late C20, enclose a small yard at the rear of the building.