6, South Street

Shop with private residence above, 6 South Street, Isleworth. Built in the early 18th century with later alterations. Two storeys with attic and basement, comprising two window bays. Red brick in Flemish bond with painted ground floor. Slate mansard roof featuring a brick parapet and chimneystack to the west end.

The building's plan retains its original layout: a large front and rear room at ground floor level, a main front room and two rear rooms accessible from a landing at first floor, and two rooms at the front in the attic. A possibly later two-storey extension extends to the rear, with a small single-storey outbuilding in the garden. The building appears to form part of the same development as the adjacent No. 4.

The street façade displays a 19th-century shop front with a central part-glazed double door topped by a fanlight, flanked by large six-pane windows. The first floor windows are late 18th-century un-horned recessed six-over-six pane sashes, with a single dormer casement above. An early 18th-century almost flush sash window survives at the rear of the main building at first floor level. The mansard roof is faced in slate at the front and part pan tile at the rear, with a chimney stack at the building's end and a ridge stack serving No. 4. A modern fire escape has been attached at the rear.

Internally, the front rooms at ground and first floor levels feature exposed brick chimney breasts and fireplaces, with corner fireplaces in the rear rooms—an arrangement typical of the early 18th-century date. The ground floor front room, now used as a shop, has been refitted with tongue and groove panelling and incorporates a later inserted staircase to the basement. A ceiling beam is exposed in this room. The ground floor rear room retains 18th-century panelling and the remains of a contemporary built-in dresser in an alcove adjacent to the stairs; the extension contains a complete built-in dresser, possibly not in its original position.

A good early 18th-century dog-leg staircase survives with heavily moulded handrail and turned balusters and newel posts, which may represent an early reuse. At its base is a part-glazed early 18th-century door with thick glazing bars. The stairs previously continued to the basement through a two-panelled door, but the rear half of the basement has been filled in. Panelling of early 18th-century date, and some possibly of late 17th-century date, extends the full height of the staircase and along landings.

A mixture of late 17th-century and early 18th-century panelling lines the back wall of the first floor front room, with the earlier panelling possibly reused from another building. A contemporary built-in cupboard stands next to the fireplace, and a ceiling beam is exposed in this room. Some panelling survives in the rear bedroom and around the bathroom tiling. The door to the front room is two-panelled. An arched recess appears in the stair wall between the first floor and attic, with a small built-in cupboard at the top of the stairs. One attic bedroom has a two-panelled door with fluted surround.

Parts of the original roof structure are visible through a small door on the attic landing. A spiked iron guard over the gate in the alley is also thought to be 18th-century. The small outbuilding in the garden is of brick with a hipped slate roof and exposed timber roof structure within; its original use is unknown.

The building dates from the early 18th century, probably built alongside No. 4, when Isleworth was a separate settlement from the rest of London. It is of special interest as an early 18th-century house whose original plan form remains legible, retaining substantial original fixtures and fittings including its dog-leg staircase and extensive panelling, some of which may date to as early as the late 17th century.