77, 77A, 79 AND 79A, BOHEMIA ROAD

A pair of end of terrace buildings dating from around 1875, located in St Leonards on Sea. The pair comprises two shops (Nos 77 and 79) added around 1900 and 1910 respectively, with living accommodation above (Nos 77A and 79A).

The buildings are constructed in red brick with painted render details including quoins and banding, beneath a slate roof. Both properties rise to three storeys with two bays to each elevation. A hipped roof sits above, topped by tall brick corbelled chimney stacks. At first floor level, windows to both the Bohemia Road and Newgate Road elevations are canted bays.

No 77 features a circa 1900 shop front with plate glass windows divided by slender moulded timber mullions and a recessed shop door. Two cast iron support columns to the recessed corner doorway carry decorative capitals with flower motifs. Double timber shop doors with small fielded panels and bolection moulding to the lower section are glazed above, with a glazed transom overhead. The entrance forecourt is decorated with quarry tiles, though the tiled stall riser has been painted and the prismatic lights boarded over.

No 79 displays a timber Art Nouveau-style shop front dating from around 1910. Decorative tulip motif stained glass adorns the transom lights, with an integral ventilation grille. The recessed timber shop door features a decorative etched glass panel inscribed "Feasit Bakers and Co Ltd" and an Art Nouveau style brass door handle. Black and white square tiles pave the door recess, with a polished granite stall riser and black and white mosaic to the front of the main stall riser bearing the inscription "Mazawattee", probably indicating later use as the London Grocery Store.

Internally, No 77 retains late 19th-century timber vertical boarding throughout, including to the stall riser and show window ceiling. A rear room was inserted in the later 20th century with wider vertical boarding. A high level built-in timber cupboard and shelving on the south wall has been truncated. The shop itself has a later timber panelled ceiling, beneath which vertical boarding may remain. A basement runs the length of the building, accessed by concrete stairs to the rear, open to the underside of the ground floor with northern and western sides opening into the stall riser, from which natural light would have entered. A coal shoot serves the northern elevation and the floor is concrete covered.

No 79's shop front features stained timber with decorative tiles at full height, the pattern varying above and below a tiled dado. Upper tiles from the early 20th century are mostly plain with some small flower motif panels, made by Sage and Co Ltd London. Below the dado, slightly later lightly coloured mottled tiles with semi-matt glaze are used. The ceiling is decorative plaster with a plaster-framed central painted panel and ornate plaster cornice. The rear office has timber vertical boarded walls and ceiling.

The interior of the upper floor accommodation (Nos 77A and 79A) was not inspected.