Butcher's Shop, 157 Arthur Road

Butcher's Shop, 157 Arthur Road

A former butcher's shop built in 1904, this mid-terrace building is oriented roughly north to south with its front facing onto Arthur Road. The ground floor housed the shop with associated storage in the basement, arranged in two rooms with a stair along the west party wall and a rear projection. The upper two floors provided residential accommodation.

The shop front is framed by pilasters finished in light and dark green ceramic tiles decorated with Art Nouveau patterns, terminating in heavy consoles with a fascia between. The façade is stepped back from the building line and paved with black and white geometric tiles. The return walls and plinth are decorated with green and white ceramic tiles featuring a sinuous Art Nouveau-style tree motif, with narrow brown tiles forming borders to panels of chequered tiles.

At the centre of the façade is a large one-over-one pane sliding sash window with brass handles and a marble cill. Above it runs a solid strip bearing the former proprietor's name, "W A Gardner & Son". The shop entrances comprise two narrow, half-glazed doors with a tall single light and a fielded panel below, topped by a plain rectangular overlight. To the left is a modern timber door with plain overlight.

The upper floors are divided into two bays by giant pilasters. Each bay of the first floor contains a pair of windows with moulded stone architraves beneath a moulded segmental pediment. The windows are uPVC replacements following the pattern of the original eight-over-one pane sliding sashes. Stone storey courses and a painted cornice run across the façade, which rises to a straight parapet with stone copings.

The rear elevation is exposed brown stock brick with red brick arches over openings. Original sashes remain on the ground floor; the basement openings have been modified to house air conditioning facilities.

The interior of the original shop occupied the front room of the ground floor and has been enlarged by opening the wall to the rear room. The front room retains significant historic tiled surfaces: from floor to ceiling it is covered in green, white and brown tiles laid in decorative chequered panels with a brown dado rail. A tiled frieze with swags and green borders runs above, though some tiles are missing and have been replaced. The ceiling is matchboarded, with scrolled wrought iron brackets supporting a rail for hanging meat; two rear brackets have been truncated to accommodate the enlarged opening. The floor is laid with large green terrazzo tiles on plywood boarding. All butchery counters, benches and fixtures have been removed. The rear room is covered in modern white tiles.

Under the stair on the ground floor is fielded panelling, with the stair itself now boarded up, though the plain square newel and shaped handrail remain exposed.

The basement contains a cold storage room with matchboarded walls and a large, thick insulated door fitted with iron lever handles and thick strap hinges. A steep, open-riser timber stair with tubular handrails provides access between the front shop rooms and basement. The main stair features a turned shaped newel post with a boarded-over banister.