Former Stapleton's Horse and Carriage Repository

This former horse repository was built or modified around 1890 as Stapleton's Horse and Carriage Repository around an existing courtyard with stabling and a frontage building possibly dating from around 1860 to 1870. The frontage building and courtyard roof were altered in the 20th century. In 2013 the office building and other parts of the site were renovated and altered; its interior is excluded from the listing.

Materials

The building is constructed of yellow stock brick with a red brick façade featuring rubbed brick decoration to the entrance building. The stable blocks have concrete floors with cast-iron columns. The roofs are covered in slate. The courtyard is floored with concrete and has a steel-truss roof with modern corrugated steel cladding.

Layout

The site consists of a three-storey entrance building onto Commercial Street (number 106a) with an arch giving onto a passage leading into a central roofed-over courtyard to the rear of the adjoining properties to the south. On the south and east sides of the courtyard is an L-shaped, two-storey plus semi-basement range with a part-pitched, part-hipped roof. This originally housed carriages on the top floor and stables on the first floor and in the semi-basement. At the angle of the range is a horse ramp and the shaft for a carriage lift, which has been converted to toilets on the ground floor. On the north side of the courtyard is a two-storey plus basement, flat-roofed office range with a fat L-shaped footprint—originally with accommodation above—with an entrance to its east featuring modern metal corrugated roller doors giving onto a disused passage running north onto Hanbury Street.

Exterior

The west elevation of the entrance building has three bays faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond. The ground floor, which appears from photographic evidence to have been re-fronted, has a large segmental arched carriage entrance occupying the two northern bays. This originally had polychromatic voussoirs but retains its original protective stone bollards at the base of the arch. The southern bay has an entrance to the flat above. This has a narrow round-arched opening with a fanlight without glazing bars and a modern door. Above the ground floor the bays are defined by pilasters with plain brick capitals placed at the top of the window level to each floor. The regular fenestration consists of replacement one-over-one horned timber sashes in square-headed openings with rubbed brick moulded surrounds and lintels. On the first floor the central bay is occupied by a decorative rubbed brick plaque with swags and mask bearing the legend 'STAPLETON'S/ ESTABLISHED/ 1842'. Below this is a brick fascia panel with a rubbed brick egg-and-dart surround. The second floor has rubbed brick panels below each window over a dentilated cornice. At the top of the building above a brick cornice is a shaped gable with stone copings, ball finials and triangular pediment. The centre of the gable bears an elaborate rubbed brick plaque bearing the Royal Arms. The building has a pitched slate roof.

Within the courtyard, the north and west elevations of the stable and carriage ranges are of yellow stock brick, laid in English bond, with an open gallery on the top floor featuring a modern tubular-steel balustrade set between the original cast-iron columns. Fenestration to the first and semi-basement levels consists of large square-headed openings divided into two by smaller cast-iron columns and with multi-pane, metal-framed windows featuring rounded sills of blue engineering brick and lintels of steel I-beams. One set of windows toward the middle of each range has been removed, creating a large double-height opening. In the eastern range at the angle of the two ranges is a dog-leg concrete horse ramp giving access to the basement and first floor, overlaid by a late 20th-century timber stair, with a brick balustrade featuring rounded engineering brick capping. The two-bay-wide opening for the ramp, which projects beyond the face of the range, has a lintel and central support of iron or steel I-beams. At the western end of the southern range a set of modern concrete stairs with a modern tubular-steel balustrade descends to the semi-basement level, and at the northern end of the eastern range is a modern steel fire escape.

The office range on the north side of the courtyard is also of yellow stock brick laid in English bond. The south elevation has one original four-over-four horned timber sash window in a segmental-arched opening with stone sill on the first floor. Other openings have been introduced or enlarged. On the east elevation there are two sash windows to the same design as the southern one and two large tripartite one-over-one horned timber sash windows on the ground floor with stone sills and I-beam lintels. An entrance at the northern end is reached via a set of modern timber stairs.

Interior

The flat in the entrance building has been modernised with few original features but retains its original timber stair.

The stable and carriage range has a continuous top floor with an open gallery to the courtyard reached from the floor below by a straight timber stair at the angle of the two wings. The timber floor cuts through blocked square window openings with I-beam lintels in the north and east walls. The boarded roof has timber trusses with tie beams augmented with iron or steel tie-rod scissors trusses. The space is lit by skylights.

The first floor and basement of the two blocks are divided from each other by the well of the horse ramp, with only the landings connecting the blocks. These storeys originally contained the stables. The stalls have been removed but their outline can be seen in the engineering brick covering laid over the concrete floors and are further demarcated by projecting slots for the partitions in the cast-iron columns and metal window frames. The columns have bell capitals. On the first floor of the southern range the columns have been removed and modern rolled steel joists have been inserted, probably in the mid-20th century. In the eastern range, the front row of columns supporting the timber joists remain but the rear row have been replaced by baulks of timber, probably in 2013. In the semi-basement only one of the original two rows of columns remains, now supporting modern rolled steel joists. In the semi-basement and first floor the front walls have white glazed tiling with a blue top band at dado height. The shaft of the carriage lift has been enlarged and converted to toilets on the ground floor and is marked on the first floor by a brick pier.

The interior of the office block was remodelled in 2013 and has new floors, ceilings and staircase. It is excluded from the listing.

The courtyard has a modern concrete floor laid over or replacing the original surface, probably of stone setts such as survive in the continuation of the passage onto Hanbury Street. The hipped roof is supported on steel trusses with cross-braced central panels and connecting tie-rods. The roof over the western passage ends in a hip and the northern passage has a 21st-century flat roof. All roofs have skylights. The passage to Hanbury Street is closed by modern metal shuttering.

Under section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, it is declared that the interior of the office building is not of special architectural or historic interest; however, any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require listed building consent, and this is a matter for the local planning authority to determine.

This list entry was subject to a minor amendment on 8 July 2020.