51, George Street

House and shop. The house dates from the early 19th century and was originally built as a single property together with No. 6 Burdett Court. The shop was added in the late 19th century and is of lesser architectural interest. The house is largely hidden from street level behind the projecting shopfront.

Materials and Construction

The shopfront is rendered. The house itself is constructed of red brick in header bond on its principal south-east facing front. The south-west elevation features part diaper brickwork in Flemish bond, while the remainder of the front has painted brick to the ground floor and tile-hung concrete tiles above. The north end is of Flemish bond brickwork. The front roof has been re-covered in asbestos slates with a tall brick chimney stack with moulded cap to the west, while the rear roof is covered in slates.

Plan and Layout

The house is a narrow rectangle of two storeys and attics with a two-bay frontage. Originally it had three bays, but the third bay now belongs to No. 6 Burdett Court. Access is by a side entrance approached through a side passage or twitten. The staircase is positioned in the centre of the west side of the building. The ground and first floors each contain two principal rooms, with one room in the attic.

Exterior Details

The principal south-east facing front is two storeys of brick with a parapet and coping, predominantly in header bond with some 20th-century repairs near the coping. Two early 19th-century twelve-pane sash windows remain on this front; a third window originally belonged to the same house but now belongs to No. 6 Burdett Court. The centre of the ground floor was removed when the shop front was added. The shopfront projects forward on the ground floor, is rendered and gabled with a simple design.

The south-west side elevation's southern part is diaper brickwork in Flemish bond with grey headers. The windows here are 20th-century casements, though two ground-floor windows probably occupy original openings. Adjoining to the centre is a section of painted brick on the ground floor with a projecting tile-hung gable above in concrete tiles, containing an attic storey. This section appears to have been re-pitched to accommodate the attic storey. A ground-floor window here is an early 19th-century six-pane sash.

To the rear north-west is an extension dating from around 1852 or earlier, comprising painted brick on the ground floor and Flemish bond brickwork above. The east side of the extension features a cambered opening with a replaced window and a simple doorcase with flush-panelled doors; the north side has a gable and 20th-century windows.

Interior

The ground-floor shopfront contains no features of architectural interest. The rear part, probably originally service rooms to the house, has two alcoves in the eastern wall. The first floor is accessed via a semi-winder staircase in the centre of the south-west side, featuring stick balusters, a column newel and boarded panelling. The first-floor rooms do not retain original fittings but have thin partition walls abutting No. 6 Burdett Court. A narrower winder staircase connects the first floor to the attic. The attic bedroom has a sloping roof and two early 19th-century built-in cupboards. The house contains a number of four-panelled doors.

Historical Development

This house was originally constructed in the early 19th century as a single property with No. 6 Burdett Court, with which it shares a flying freehold. The 1852 Ordnance Survey map shows that the two properties were by then in separate ownership. A passageway was depicted to the west of No. 51, and to the north rising steeply up West Hill was shown a large garden stretching across the width of both properties, with meandering paths, flights of steps and probably a summer house at the northern end which would have commanded a good sea view. By 1875 the northern part of the garden featured a large rockery, and the summer house appears to have been demolished. During the Second World War, two bomb strikes fell on George Street, and this building likely sustained damage, possibly including to the parapet.