8 High Street

Shop house, built in 1904 to designs by William Roland Howell of Coopers and Howell.

MATERIALS: the street-facing elevation is of faience tiles with timber and coursed rubblestone shopfront. The rear elevations are of red brick.

PLAN: the building is of three storeys plus attic and basement. It comprises two principal volumes: a principal range to the west fronting High Street and a rear range extending eastwards into the urban block.

EXTERIOR: the front, west elevation of 8 High Street is designed in a rich, Art Nouveau style. It presents a wide, single-bay frontage onto the High Street. The ground floor is largely occupied by a later-C20, glazed shopfront with half-glazed double doors to the north. The black overlight above the entryway at the northern end of the façade reads ‘BANK CHAMBERS / No. 8a’ in gilt letters. Black faience tiles flank the shopfront on either side and extend upwards to enclose a large, fan-shaped window at first-floor level. Voussoirs with curvilinear, Art Nouveau-style motifs surround this window. The upper half of the first storey is clad in green faience tiles. The second storey is divided by three trapezoid hanging buttresses that are connected to the first storey by decorative, foliate corbels. Each buttress is stamped with a relief cartouche. Two bays of tripartite, segmental-headed sash windows span the intervals between these buttresses and are each topped by a curved modillion cornice. At its apex, the building exhibits a heavy modillion cornice with flanking, foliate turrets. The principal, west range of the building has a pitched roof. The west roof slope carries a large dormer with a tripartite, mullioned casement window and a heavy modillion cornice. The rear range has an irregular gable roof, the eaves of which are oriented north/south and span the rear element of 8 High Street. The north, east and south elevations of 8 High Street are red brick. The north elevation fronts onto a shared service alley with 1-2 Market Place, while the east elevation comprises two small, ancillary extensions and an irregular layout of four casement windows.