6 Harbour Street

A former jeweller’s shop with office accommodation above, probably built in the early C19 with a shopfront remodelled in the 1950s.

MATERIALS: external walls of yellow brick, with a timber and glazed shopfront.

PLAN: the building is rectangular on plan and is situated in the middle of a terrace of shops with accommodation above on the east side of Harbour Street.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation of the building to Harbour Street is two bays wide, with three storeys of accommodation over the ground-floor shop. The upper floors are of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond and each floor has a pair of recessed six-over-six sash windows with projecting stone sills and rendered reveals and lintels. An ornate metal bracket for a hanging sign projects from between the first-floor windows. The ground-floor has an asymmetrical, dual-entrance, recessed shopfront with ornate timber display cases with curved glazing.

The shopfront comprises a moulded fascia flanked by pilasters and large console fascia stops, which probably date from the C19. Within this framing is a timber and glazed shopfront remodelled in the 1950s. In the centre of the recessed lobby is a central island case set at a slight angle to the street, which has curved plate glass with thin, moulded glazing bars of timber and fielded panelling to the risers. This case is flanked by wall cases with similar glazing and joinery, and there are matching doors set back from the street leading into the shop. The lobby floor has mosaic tiling in an abstract black and white pattern.

INTERIOR: the main shop room on the ground floor retains original fittings. There are two counters of dark-stained timber, with one curved end each, fielded panels and moulded console brackets to the customer-facing sides and glazed tops for displaying jewellery. To the rear each counter has a curved timber shelf, and they are flanked by brass columns. The walls are fitted with glazed display cases of similar joinery and various sizes, with deep moulded cornices just below ceiling level. The ground-floor workshop to the rear has a moulded cornice and picture rail.

The first-floor office retains moulded cornicing, picture rail and skirting, a timber fire surround and an adjacent built-in cupboard with a fielded panel to the door. One of the second-floor rooms and the third-floor room have tiled fireplaces and moulded skirting and picture rails.