7, The Mall

This is a shop with residential accommodation above, built in the early 1880s, with a rear addition dating to 1921 by G Percy Pratt. The architect of the original building is unknown. It is constructed of polychrome red and brown brick, with stone voussoirs and console brackets, and has a slate roof. The upper windows have been replaced and are not of particular interest. A projecting clock, contemporary with the original building, sits on an elaborate cast-iron bracket.

The ground-floor shop front has a central glazed door set well back behind a curved frontage with rounded glass sheets and scrolling tracery in a slightly Art Nouveau style. The front window is flat and set on a plinth of Norwegian 'black pearl' granite. Above the entrance is further tracery and mirror glass. The shop front itself appears to date from 1902, following plans prepared by Charles Spurgeon of Manor Park. Internally, original cornices and a lincrusta ceiling remain.

The building is notable for the rarity and quality of its Art Nouveau shopfront, combined with the prominent clock above, which together create a striking feature in the streetscape. One of the first occupants, documented in 1884, was E D Walters, a jeweller, and by 1890 G H Stoneman, a watchmaker and jeweller, had taken over the lease, commissioning the later shopfront and remaining there until at least 1914. The large clock served as an elaborate advertisement and dates from the building’s completion.