105A, Middle Street

860/1/321 MIDDLE STREET 08-FEB-74 (West side) 105A

II House, formerly house and shop. Late C18 or early C19, renovated in later C20.

MATERIALS Painted brick except for ground floor which is rendered. Half-hipped tiled roof.

PLAN Two storeys with attic in end gable set endwise to the street with one window to each floor. Internally there are two rooms to each floor.

EXTERIOR Principal east front has a brick modillion eaves cornice and plinth. C20 casement window to attic, first floor 16-pane sash and C20 bow window and right side doorcase replacing C19 shopfront.

INTERIOR The ground floor has an C18 two inch chamfered axial beam with runout stop in the front room and an internal multipane internal window between the two ground floor rooms, enabling a watch to be kept on the shop from the other ground floor room. The first floor also has an axial beam. The basement retains a round-headed stone arch supporting a chimneybreast.

HISTORY The building has been traced back as far as 1803 when it was occupied by carpenters and builders. In the 1851 Census Returns it was occupied by Richard Mowle, a Cinque Port pilot and his family, who remained there until 1863. It was then occupied by an upholsterer and remained in this use until the 1920s. In 1927 it became a general stores called The Middle Street Stores. The building is shown on the first edition Ordnance survey map of 1872. In the later C20 the building was adapted to become entirely residential and the C19 shopfront was removed.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION * An C18 building retaining a multipane sash window externally and internally some axial beams and a multipane window between the two ground floor rooms. * It has strong group value with a number of listed buildings within a designated conservation area.