140a, 141-143, Upper Street

This is a row of shops with offices or living space above, built in 1891 by Herbert Huntly-Gordon. It is constructed of terracotta, manufactured probably by Doulton and Company, with a Welsh slate roof that has undergone Turnerisation. The architectural style is a Flemish interpretation of "Queen Anne."

The building is four storeys high, its facade divided into four bays facing Upper Street and two bays facing Almeida Street, with a corner oriel window. The ground floor of the Upper Street elevation has been largely replaced in the 20th century, except for pilasters between the bays and part of the shopfront of number 143. The first and second floors are treated as alternating bays, separated by superimposed pilasters. The bays are arranged as A, B, A, B from the north, with type A bays containing a single five-light mullioned and transomed window on each floor, and type B bays containing three windows to each floor, each set in a slightly curved shape with an engaged column in between. The fourth bay from the north is type B but has only two windows.

The three-sided corner oriel has an inscription at its base which reads 'Myddelton Corner. Here stood the house of Sir Hugh Myddelton built 15-- [illegible] Rebuilt 1891 Huntly-Gordon ---[illegible]'. Above the inscription are transomed windows with engaged columns and low-relief portrait heads within roundels, set between the first and second floors. A decorative frieze of panels displaying strapwork, figures, and heads in roundels runs around the building; the central panel of the oriel displays the date 1543 and a portrait head, presumably of Sir Hugh Myddelton. Crouching satyrs act as brackets to the fluted cornice. There are linked, pedimented gables facing Upper Street: one large gable features three round-arched windows and a keyed oculus, and three smaller gables have cross windows. The corner oriel is topped by an open octagon with round arches, balustrade, and cornice. This octagon continues upwards, but has lost its domed roof and small cupola. The roof is single-pitched and mansard in style.

The shopfront returns somewhat along the Almeida Street elevation. The first and second floors have two bays with two windows each, of type B, with blank walling in between, and two small gables are present.

Herbert Huntly-Gordon was known for his architectural use of terracotta and maintained a close working relationship with Doulton and Company.