396, St John Street

This is a former single house with a ground-floor shop, now used as offices with a ground-floor retail space. The building dates to 1830-1831, with a mid-to-late 19th-century shopfront and 20th-century alterations. It was likely originally designed by Ebenezer Simes, a carpenter from White Lion Street.

The building is constructed of multi-coloured stock brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with 20th-century tiles below the wooden shopfront. The front roof slope is obscured by a parapet, while the rear features a Welsh slate mansard roof with ridge tiles and brick end-wall stacks. The plan is based around a side-hall entrance leading to an upper-floor staircase, with a two-room-deep ground-floor shop.

The building is four storeys high and has a two-window front. The ground floor has a 19th-century entrance to the left and a 20th-century door to the right. The shopfront has three bays; two glazed shop windows are positioned between the shop and house doors. Pilasters articulate the bays, with original console brackets on the end pilasters. A wide 20th-century fascia covers the original fascia. Gauged brick flat-arches are above the upper sash windows. The first floor has full-length windows with wrought-iron window guards, and the second floor has 6/6 sash windows. The third floor has 1/1 casement sashes. A coping stone sits atop a plain parapet.

The ground-floor shop's front room has 20th-century detailing, while the rear room retains an original marble mantlepiece on the left party wall, a panelled hall door, and an architraved 6/6 sash window. The house's side-entrance hall has a beaded board dado and an original plaster ceiling with an unusual Neo-Classical cornice. The front room on the first floor incorporates an altered heavily moulded cornice, original architraved sashes with canted sides and panelled shutters, and wide skirting boards. The rear room has an original plaster cornice, a marble mantlepiece on the left party wall, and original six-panelled doors with architraved surrounds. The front room on the second floor has an original moulded plaster cornice, a marble mantlepiece with a cast-iron insert on the left party wall, architraved sashes over recessed panels, and a four-panelled door. The rear room on the second floor features an original marble mantlepiece with a cast-iron insert, a deeply recessed 6/6 sash window with canted sides and a panel below. The rooms on the third floor retain original mantlepieces and panelled doors. The original staircase is partially intact but has been altered.

Historical records indicate that the house was built in 1830-1831 by Ebenezer Simes, and that the adjacent terrace to the north was not constructed until 1840-1842. The 1831 ground plan confirms that from its initial design, No. 396 St. John Street was a house with a ground-floor shop and separate entrances.