49-51, High East Street

A terrace of originally four town houses was built around 1795 on the north side of High East Street in Dorchester. The fourth house, at the east end, was demolished and replaced in the mid-1980s. The remaining houses are constructed of dressed stone with three-storey high street fronts, featuring moulded wood cornices along the top. The roofs are hidden, but have tall brick stacks to the party walls. Each house originally had two segmental-headed sash windows at first and second floor levels. Number 49 (The Casterbridge Hotel) retains six-over-six pane sashes, while numbers 50a and 51 have been replaced with plate glass windows. Number 49 has a round-headed doorway and a full-width iron balcony on the first floor, along with curved iron railings to the pavement and a large segmental-headed ground floor window. Number 50 (Box of Porcelain) has a late 20th-century shop front in a traditional style. Number 51 features a mid-19th century porch supported by slender Corinthian style iron columns, with a round-headed six-panelled door with a fanlight above, enclosed by Tuscan-style pilasters. The moulded wood entablature above extends over the adjacent late 19th-century shop front (number 51a), which has a central entrance flanked by plate glass display windows in slender, moulded wood frames, set on rendered stone stall risers. The rear elevations of numbers 49 to 51 are a mix of stone rubble and brickwork, with timber sashes, and include late 19th and late 20th century lean-to extensions and flat-roofed dormers. The interiors have not been inspected, but are believed to contain late 18th and 19th century features such as doors, fireplaces, and window shutters. Built by an unknown architect, the terrace occupies a site which was previously part of the County Gaol, demolished in 1792. The terrace is shown on a map of Dorchester from around 1835. The houses are a good example of late 18th century town houses with quality architectural detailing, located at a prominent position on Dorchester’s main shopping street and contributing significantly to the area’s historic interest, thus justifying their Grade II listing.