Spitalfields Market

Spitalfields Market

A group of market buildings including two banks, designed by George Sherrin and built between 1885 and 1893 for Robert Homer, the last private owner of the market. The complex is arranged around a rectangular plot with frontages to Commercial Street (east), Brushfield Street (south), and Lamb Street (north).

Central Northern Block (Lamb Street)

Dated 1885 on rainwater heads. Red brick construction with stuccoed gables. The steeply pitched plain tiled roof features five gables and a dormer to the right-hand bay, with slab chimney stacks. The building is three storeys plus attics, arranged in six bays. The ground floor has original shop fronts with panelled doors with overlights of rectangular panes, and strip windows of two-pane depth at first floor level. The upper floors display shallow canted three-light bay windows in all bays except the right-hand bay, with gauged brick segmental arches and keystones to recessed sashes where the panes are confined to the upper lights only. The right-hand bay contains a segmental arched tripartite sash at first floor; the second floor has two paired segmental arched sashes with bracketed sills. A continuous stucco sill band runs across the second floor. The bays feature dentil cornices and enriched friezes below the second floor windows. Rectangular floral design cut and rubbed brick panels sit between the bays at second floor level. Egg and dart eaves and gable cornices finish the elevation. The gables appear as timber-framed, each with a two-light sash.

South Eastern Block (Brushfield Street)

Dated 1886 on rainwater heads. Three left-hand bays form banking premises. Red brick with stucco gables and first floor inner bays. The steeply pitched plain tiled roof has gables to the left-hand two bays and four dormers, with slab chimney stacks. Three storeys plus attics are arranged in seven bays. The ground floor follows the Lamb Street pattern except for the three left-hand bays and the three-bay return, which feature channelled stone with round-arched windows; the right-hand entrance is square-headed with an oculus above, while the left-hand is round-arched with a fanlight. All have console keystones. Upper floors have segmental arched sashes with keystones, glazing bars to upper lights only, and bracketed sills; these are paired to the right-hand four bays at first floor, while the left-hand bays have a one-three-one arrangement on both first and second floors. The return is similar. Cut and rubbed brick aprons of fruit design appear throughout. Eaves and a second floor dentil cornice with cut and rubbed brick frieze of floral design enhance the elevation. The second floor right-hand bays have panels appearing as rectangular and herringbone studding. The gables appear as timber-framed, each with a two-light window and egg and dart cornice.

Central Eastern Block (Commercial Street)

Built 1886 to 1893. Red brick with stuccoed gables. A slated hipped roof with glazed ridge lantern covers the three-bay, two-storey structure. A giant arcade of rusticated gauged brick arches dominates the composition. The ground floor follows the Lamb Street pattern. A cornice at first floor level extends across the pillars to form capitals. The upper floor contains three-light casements with glazing bars, segmental pediments and keystones, set within shaped and panelled surrounds within the arches. A brick parapet with stuccoed panels and stepped cornice crowns the block. A two-bay return and rear facade to the market follow a similar design.

Central Eastern Corner Block (Commercial Street)

Dated 1887 on central plaque. Red brick with stucco gables. Steeply pitched red plain tile roofs reach to the eaves, with three gables (to central and end bays) and six dormers, plus tall slab stacks. Three storeys plus attics, with 14 windows to Commercial Street, a two-window return to Brushfield Street, and a two-window right-hand return. A central vehicle entrance with a three-centred arch rises through the ground and first floors with rusticated gauged brick spandrels and stucco keystone, surmounted by a flush parapet with panels of cut and rubbed brick in floral design. The ground floor follows the Lamb Street pattern. Upper floors have segmental arched sashes with keystones; paired sashes appear to the left side. Glazing bars are confined to upper lights only. First floor sashes have bracketed sills; the second floor has a bracketed continuous sill band beneath which runs a dentil cornice and frieze of cut and rubbed brick in floral design. Similar rectangular panels flank the sashes above the vehicle entrance, with a central plaque bearing a coat of arms and the inscription "Spitalfields Market / Rebuilt by / Robert Homer / during the year of / Queen Victoria's Jubilee / 1887". Egg and dart eaves and gable cornices complete the design. The gables appear as timber-framed with four-light windows.

Central Southern Block (Brushfield Street)

Dated 1889 on rainwater heads. Two right-hand bays form banking premises. Red brick with stucco gables and second floor (except for end bays). Steeply pitched red plain tiled roofs reach to the eaves, with gables to end bays and four dormers, plus tall slab stacks. Three storeys plus attics, arranged in six bays (12 windows). The ground floor follows the Lamb Street pattern except for the two right-hand bays and the return, which feature arcaded channelled stone with enriched keystones to central round-arched windows with panelled aprons; flanking panelled doors have radial patterned fanlights. The first and second floors of the end bays have segmental-headed sashes with keystones and glazing bars to upper lights only. First floor sashes feature cut and rubbed brick aprons of fruit design. The second floor inner bays have square-headed sashes with glazing bars to upper lights only, flanked by stuccoed panels; a continuous sill band runs beneath, with a dentil cornice and frieze of cut and rubbed brick floral design below. The gables appear as timber-framed with paired sashes to each.

North Eastern Block (Commercial Street)

Dated 1891 to 1893 on plaque and gables on the right-hand return to Lamb Street. Red brick with stucco gables and first floor return, plus brick quoins. The steeply pitched tiled roof reaches to the eaves, with gables to end bays and return, and two dormers. Three storeys plus attics, with 13 windows to Commercial Street and 21 to Lamb Street. The ground floors follow the Lamb Street pattern. The Commercial Street upper floors facade features segmental-headed sashes with keystones and glazing bars to upper lights only. The first floor has bracketed sills; the second floor has a continuous bracketed sill band beneath which runs a dentil cornice and frieze of cut and rubbed brick in floral design. The gables appear as timber-framed with paired sashes to each. Egg and dart eaves and gable cornices complete the elevation. The return to Lamb Street has a similar ground floor to the Lamb Street elevation and similar first floor windows but square-headed second floor sashes with two rectangular panels of cut and rubbed brick in floral foliar design to the inner bays. Egg and dart eaves and gable cornices finish the design. The gables appear as timber-framed with tripartite sashes surrounded by pargeted designs of baskets of fruit, fruit pickers, and boughs of fruit; the left-hand gable is dated 1893, the right-hand gable is dated 1891. A plaque on the first floor left-hand bay is inscribed "This market / was finished rebuilding / by R. Homer 1893".

All the buildings at Spitalfields Market form a unified group.