23-26 Market Place

Commercial terrace constructed in the early C19 to designs by Henry Briant (1813-1884) and Nathaniel Briant (dates unknown).

MATERIALS: the principal, east elevation is faced with rendered ashlar Bath Stone. The roof is slate and the rear elevations are exposed red brick.

PLAN: 23-26 Market Place comprises a single, four-storey volume divided into three properties. Owing to their shared convex east elevation, this volume is a quadrant in plan. The northernmost property comprises number 23, followed by number 24, with numbers 25-26 to the south.

EXTERIOR: the range is expressed as three properties, each two bays wide, with a shared convex east elevation. All three buildings have a largely glazed shopfront at ground-floor level with an entrance doorway at the intersection between each building. The three buildings are separated by coupled Doric pilasters with fluted capitals that span from the first floor to the building’s parapet. The upper floors of the three buildings have a shared 2:2:2 ratio of fenestration bays. The windows at first-floor level are six-over-six glazing bar sashes set into neoclassical cases and topped by cornices with carved brackets. The second-floor windows are also six-over-six glazing bar sashes set into neoclassical cases but without cornices. The third-floor windows are square, three-over-three sashes. The building features a continuous parapet with a moulded cope at its apex and a cornice spanning numbers 24-26. Numbers 25 and 26 are spanned by two pitched roofs oriented east-west, with one over the front, eastern half of the building, and another over the rear, western half. The front (eastern) halves of numbers 23 and 24 are spanned by a continuous hipped roof with its slopes oriented east-west, while the rear portion of both buildings is spanned by a flat roof. There are chimney stacks rising on the party wall of numbers 24 and 25, and between numbers 26 and 27. The rear elevation was not inspected. It is understood to contain various bays of fenestration, and a spiral staircase spanning numbers 25 and 26.