7 Castle Street

A townhouse, constructed during the mid-C18, converted to office use during the early C20.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of silver grey brick laid in header bond with red brick dressings, with a timber doorcase, stone steps to the front door and a slate roof. The rear (south) elevation is constructed of red brick.

PLAN: irregular rectangular plan, with a principal, north range fronting Castle Street and a rear, south range which is slightly staggered to the west and extends to the south along the western plot boundary. Of three storeys with a basement.

EXTERIOR: the street front has four bays, with a pitched roof to the north range concealed behind a plain, stone-coped, brick parapet. The principal, north elevation is arranged in a regular grid, with openings arranged in four evenly-spaced bays with narrow strips of red brick rising from a silver-grey brick plinth to the parapet, defining each bay. On the ground floor, the main entrance is located to the right of the centre in the second bay from the west and comprises a six-panelled door with a rectangular fanlight over, containing intricate timber glazing bars, within a timber doorcase topped with a bracketed pediment. Three stone steps lead up to the door from the street. The three other ground-floor bays each contain a six-over-six timber sash window under a flat-arched window head in gauged brickwork. Beneath the westernmost ground-floor window is a basement light, now mostly bricked up, with a segmental-arched head. The first and second floors each contain four, six-over-six timber sash windows under gauged brickwork heads, matching those on the ground floor but slightly shorter in height.

The rear, south range is largely hidden from the street but appears to be of red brickwork, with ranges of timber sash windows on each floor of the south elevation.