Voysey House

Sanderson’s wallpaper factory, now offices, was built in 1902 by C F A Voysey for Messrs Sanderson, with alterations in 1968 and 1987. The building is constructed of glazed white brick in English bond with Staffordshire blue brick, now painted black to the plinth, bands, and opening surrounds; it has Portland stone dressings and a late 20th-century felted roof. It is four storeys high, with a 1987 flat roof, and comprises four and a half bays, the eastern bay containing stairs, a lift, and toilets. The original small-pane steel-framed windows remain on the east side, while the others have been replaced with early to mid-20th century metal casement windows. These windows are segmental-arched with dripmoulds, and on all but the east side occupy the full width of the bay, with circular windows on the third floor. The bays are defined by giant buttresses, which incorporate air vents that are smaller on the third floor and rise above the parapet. A stone cornice runs to the second floor, and there is a shaped parapet.

The south (entrance) elevation has a round-arched entrance in the fourth bay, with replacement recessed doors. A ground-floor window has been converted into an entrance. Metal quadrant caps are present at the buttress angles, and the east bay is largely blind, except for the third-floor window, which replaces the former entrance to a bridge that spanned the road to Sanderson’s main factory building. The north elevation’s east bay has narrower round-arched windows, with the third floor being blind. Ground floor windows in two right bays have been blocked, with one inserted door. The west end has altered ground floor windows; the right-hand window is blocked and features a 1987 round-arched fire-escape door, while the left-hand window is now an entrance. The east end’s left bay has a round-arched doorway and various windows, with some flat, and 1968 replacement windows on the third floor.

The interior features cast-iron columns, which reduce in diameter on successive floors, supporting steel joists and corrugated iron-shuttered arched concrete floors. The stair rises around the lift shaft. The roof was originally double-pitched with glazed north sides; the north parapet was lined with glazed white brick to reflect light down through the roof. This is an important Arts and Crafts factory building, and the only industrial building designed by Voysey.