15 Friar Street and Numbers 1 and 26 Harris Arcade, Reading

The building at 15 Friar Street and Numbers 1 and 26 Harris Arcade in Reading is a shopping arcade constructed between 1929 and 1931 for John Harris. It incorporates an earlier street frontage, originally a motor showroom, dating from before 1922.

The Friar Street frontage features a stone surround with carved decoration and plate glass shop windows with bronzed metal surrounds at ground floor level. The two storeys above have red brick walling in a Flemish bond pattern, with stone dressings. The arcade itself is shaped like an irregular 'L', with a shorter section connecting to Station Road and a longer section running north-south to Friar Street. The section containing 15 Friar Street and 1 and 26 Harris Arcade is located at the southern end of the arcade.

The main Friar Street frontage has three bays at ground floor level, with the central one serving as the main entrance to the arcade. Bowed plate glass windows are on either side of the central entrance, and a doorway provides access to the upper floors. Wide, panelled pilasters with projecting classical motifs flank the frontage. Above the front is an entablature with a frieze and a projecting panel displaying the words “HARRIS ARCADE” in stainless steel lettering. A deep cornice above has regularly spaced square blocks (mutules).

The upper floors, originally part of an 18th-century townhouse, have four bays with four-over-four pane sash windows at the first floor, and three-over-three pane windows to the second floor, each with splayed heads created from gauged brick. A bracketed cornice runs along the top of the wall, above which is a low brick parapet. The arcade's terrazzo floor has inlaid black borders. Shop fronts have granite stall risers and plate glass windows, separated by panelled pilasters. Window surrounds are a combination of metal and timber, creating an imitation bronze effect. Deep transom lights above the shop windows include regularly placed pivoting windows for ventilation. Decorative motifs cast into the metal and carved into the wood include guilloche and anthemion mouldings, and paterae. The plaster ceiling at the arcade’s southern end is panelled. A plaque denotes 15 Friar Street as the birthplace of Professor Goldwin Smith (1823-1910).

The interiors of the shops are largely remodelled and contain few original fittings, although suspended ceilings may obscure original features. The upper floors were not inspected.