54 Borough High Street

54 Borough High Street is a late 18th-century commercial building with a remarkably intact late 19th-century shopfront and interior, continuously occupied by the same firm for over two centuries. The building demonstrates the evolution of a professional surveying and estate agency practice from Georgian origins through Victorian expansion.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of brick, now rendered and painted. The rear west wall was rebuilt in the mid-20th century, at which time the north-west timber corner post was replaced. The timber frame may survive within the north wall. The street-facing slope of the roof has clay tiles; the rest of the roof is asphalted.

Plan

The footprint is a long rectangle on an east-west axis, with the western entrance on Borough High Street. Internally, the plan over three floors consists of a large room to the east and a smaller room to the west, accessed by a stair rising in the south-west corner.

Exterior

The east-facing street frontage is two windows wide, over three storeys and attic. The ground floor is occupied by a late 19th-century or very early 20th-century (pre-1910) shopfront constructed of dark-stained timber. The entrance is to the right, with the window to the left divided into two large panes and turning the corner into the outer lobby. Below the window, the stallriser has raised and fielded panels; to the right of the doorway is a section of sunk panels. The fascia carries the name 'Field & Sons' in later enamelled copper letters, with a block cornice above. Above that is a parapet added in the early 20th century, with a raised central section bearing the words 'Established 1804' within a reeded frame. Above the entrance is the word 'Valuers'. The lettering of the frontage was slightly edited at the end of the 20th century, reflecting changes to the nature of the firm.

The entrance is framed by narrow pilasters, with a shield-shaped bell-push to the right; a sliding metal gate secures the entrance. Within the outer lobby, a mosaic pavement announces 'Field & Sons' within a geometric border. A door with panelling below and glazing above, consistent with the rest of the shopfront, gives access from the outer lobby to the inner lobby.

Between the first-floor windows is a wrought-iron bracket which formerly held a large Sun Insurance sign (Field & Sons was a long-time agent for that firm) and now holds a modern Field & Sons sign. Above the parapet to the right is a small fire insurance sign in the form of a sun, denoting the Sun Fire Office.

The parapet obscures the bottom of the first-floor windows, which have mid-19th-century Classical surrounds. The first-floor window has console brackets supporting a cornice, with a rosette to the frieze; the second-floor surrounds have a plain moulding. The window frames are horned sashes, the diagonal leaded lights holding bottle-glass, fitted in the early 20th century but after 1910. Between first and second-floor windows is a platband.

The steep mansard roof shown in the 1840 Tallis drawing had had its upper section flattened by 1947. The central dormer window has been modified, with new frames inserted circa 2000.

Parts of the western and northern elevations are visible from the passage and court between numbers 54 and 52 (Calvert's Buildings). The ground floor of the west elevation is obscured by the adjoining building; a light-well lights the rear ground-floor office. There is a mullioned casement window to the first floor, with a smaller tripartite window above, and a large tripartite window to the second floor. Further west in the north elevation, a glazed entrance to the rear office is combined with a large multi-pane window in a composition which probably dates from the late 19th century. An external stack rises to the west on this elevation, which has irregular fenestration including a horned sash window to the first floor. There are modern dormer windows to the attic, three to the north and one to the west.

Interior

The interior of the ground-floor shop is essentially the result of a re-fitting in the late 19th century. The shop is entered through a glazed lobby which screens the north-east corner of the front office. The lobby has panelling to dado level with small glazed panes above; on the dado rail early 20th-century gold-painted letters read 'Kindly wipe your boots'.

The walls have oak wainscot panelling, with tall narrow panels and chamfered rails; the panelling continues up the stair to first-floor level. The panelling to the north wall (though not within the lobby) was installed circa 2000, with the removal of 19th-century cupboards. At the foot of the stairs, gold painted letters on the panelling direct the visitor to 'Mr Roland Field [Senior Partner in the early 20th century] on the 1st Floor' and the 'Architects Dept & Drawing Office, 2nd Floor.' Above the panelling, at the foot of the stairs, a panelled roll of honour records those employees of Field & Sons who served in the First World War, and those who were killed.

Against the south wall is a large late 19th-century timber chimneypiece in a hybrid style with a Classical frame and Tudor inner arch, above which the chimneybreast is pyramidal in form. A partition enclosing the north-west corner has now been removed.

A panelled screen with two glazed doors separates the front office from the back office, with a collection of historic fire insurance signs fixed above the doors. The back office was formerly divided by a partition forming the accountant's room to the south and a rent-collector's room to the north. On the north wall is a late 19th-century or early 20th-century chimneypiece in an eclectic style, with a safe set into the opening. In the south-east corner, the external door is preceded by a glazed lobby, painted and plainer than that in the front office; two rising panels were used for the collection of rent, preventing the necessity of tenants entering the office.

The building's main stair, constructed in the early 19th century, forms an elliptical open well. The open string has projecting mouldings to the treads, with carved decorative brackets beneath. The curved handrail has a curved section, with turned columnar newel-posts and stick balusters. Below first-floor level, where the stair is visible from the ground-floor office, the stair was modified in the late 19th century by the insertion of barleysugar balusters alternating with the original stick balusters. The newel-posts (to this stair and the one leading to the cellar) were replaced in the early 20th century by fluted posts understood to have belonged to Roland Field's four-poster bed, with an electric light in the form of a flaming torch added to the principal newel-post.

The straight stair to the cellar is very plain, with a closed string, unmoulded handrail, and stick balusters; the stair here is lined with tongue-and-groove boarding.

On the first and second floors, the landings have been reduced and office sizes increased with the removal of a glazed screen on the second floor and the insertion of partitions circa 2000. On the first floor, the front room has a late 19th-century or early 20th-century chimneypiece in a Georgian manner to the south wall. The back room (the board room) is lit by the mid-20th-century tripartite window with timber mullions and leaded panes of cathedral glass; the geometric window bars are late 20th century. Above, a smaller tripartite window in a sloping enclosure borrows light from the floor above. The beams in this room are 20th century; the room has lost its fireplace. On this floor, the north part of the landing is partitioned to form a modern kitchen.

On the second floor, the front room contains a plain Classical early to mid-19th-century chimneypiece on the south wall. The back room has lost its fireplace. The north part of the landing is partitioned to provide modern lavatories.

The attic, now a small flat, has a large room to the east – with modern kitchen facilities installed at the west end – and a smaller room to the west with a partition forming a modern bathroom in the south-west corner. The attic space is lined with tongue-and-groove boarding, probably dating from the late 19th century.

The cellar is divided in two, with a strong room, understood to pre-date 1880, to the west. To the south of this is a blocked doorway, which formerly gave access to the adjoining property.