50, West Street

No. 50 West Street is a late 19th-century building originally used for engineering works and later as an ambulance station. It is constructed of red brick in English bond, with stock brick dressings and 20th-century pantiles on the roof. The gable front features stone and brick coping and kneelers, and there is a plaque inscribed with 'GEO ELLIOTT'. The first floor includes two circular windows and a round-headed loading door with a keystone. The ground floor has a large cambered opening with a keystone and impost blocks, flanked by four cambered metal casements. The entrance has wooden double doors. Inside, the building has four bays with plain boarding. The site is historically significant as it was where George Parfitt built 'John Henry Knight's car', one of Britain's earliest petrol-driven vehicles, in 1895 at the Elliott Reliance Works. This car is believed to be the first petrol-driven vehicle on English roads and is now part of the collection at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.