24 24a, Union Street

This is a late Victorian building of four storeys, situated on Union Street. The building is constructed of brick with rendered dressings and features a parapet and cornice. It is listed primarily for its unusual shop front, which is carved in a neo-Jacobean style.

The shop front at No. 24A is contained within a frame of three-quarter tapered pilasters. These pilasters have panelled pedestals decorated with floral and ribbon carving, leading up to splayed elongated necks terminating in capitals with egg and dart mouldings and leaf finials. Above the pilasters are grotesque heads with swagged beards, which support the frieze and cornice, also featuring egg and dart moulding. The shop front itself includes a large, segmental arched plate glass window, with scrolled stops, floral carving in the spandrels, and a scrolled keystone. The arch springs from the egg and dart mould transom of the left-hand side window and from a similar doorhead to the shop on the right. Both side windows are of plate glass and feature arched glazing bars at the top, with square upper lights and an octagonal centre pane. Thin composite pilasters separate the windows. The entrance at No. 24A has a panelled and glazed door. Above the lintel, a miniature balustrade sits before a recessed panel partially obscured by a semi-circular arch. The spandrels of this arch are filled with shell and foliage carving.