56, Exmouth Market

No. 56 Exmouth Market is a terraced house with a shop, built around 1820-1830. The building features multi-coloured stock brick set in Flemish bond and has a wooden shopfront, which has undergone some 20th-century alterations. The roof is obscured by a parapet, and there is a brick stack on the left party wall. The ground floor has a shop plan with an angled entrance to the right, set in a deep recess, while the house entrance is further to the right, also in a recess. The ground floor is highlighted by console-bracketed pilasters. The upper floors have gauged-brick flat arches over 6/6 and 3/3 sash windows, with full-length sashes on the first floor. The windows decrease in height as they ascend. The building is topped with a coping stone on the plain parapet. Historically, this location was significant as it was the residence of Joseph Grimaldi, the renowned London clown, from 1818 until his retirement in 1828. Grimaldi was a prominent figure at nearby Sadler's Wells, and his contributions greatly influenced the characteristics of the pantomime clown.