52, Southside Street

Former merchant's house, now with a shop on the ground floor of the front range. Dating from the 17th century and remodelled in the 18th century, with alterations from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of stone with timber partition walls. The street elevation has been re-fronted in painted brick in irregular bond, with brick pilasters and plat bands creating two recessed panels at first and second floor levels. The roof is covered in asbestos slate with a hipped profile, and there is a rendered stack to the left.

The plan follows a gallery-and-back-block arrangement, consisting of a main block facing the street, a courtyard behind, and a rear building, all connected by a gallery or passage. The building rises to three storeys.

The street elevation has a two-window range with segmental arches. The windows are early 18th-century exposed sash boxes with twelve-pane hornless sashes featuring thick ovolo moulded glazing bars. The ground floor contains an early 19th-century shop front with a four-light window (some glazing bars removed), a shop doorway towards the right, and a former entrance to the passage at the far right. The passage doorway retains its architrave surround with ovolo moulding.

To the ground floor of the front range, the rear wall has been rebuilt in concrete blockwork and the passage absorbed into the former shop. The first floor contains a cupboard with early 18th-century butterfly hinges and a concealed 17th-century granite fireplace with hollow chamfered mouldings to the lintel; another fireplace of similar character survives at second floor level. The west wall of the second floor is timber framed with brick infill.

At the centre of the site is a staircase that partially blocks the passage. The stairs to the attic are enclosed by a plank and muntin screen. The rear block is divided into two rooms at ground floor level, each with fireplaces. Evidence survives of a blocked ten-light mullion and transom window to the rear. At the south-east corner are the remains of newel stairs. At first and second floor levels, the partition wall dividing the two rooms has been removed. The second floor contains a 17th-century mullioned window and an 18th-century fireplace in the front room, and a 17th-century fireplace, wood panelling, and a screen to the former newel stair in the rear room. The roofs have been heavily renewed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.