Parade House

Parade House, located at No 70 Fore Street, was built around 1730 for a member of the Houlton family. This impressive building features two storeys, an attic, and a basement, constructed from ashlar stone. It has a moulded plinth and a moulded cornice string above the ground floor windows, along with an elaborate moulded cornice supported by carved brackets with an acanthus pattern. The building has chamfered bonded quoins, and the three central bays slightly project forward, adorned with panelled angle pilasters and a pediment above the main cornice.

There are two dormers and seven first-floor windows, each framed with bolection architrave surrounds, carved keystones, and a frieze decorated with a scroll leaf pattern. The central window is flanked by vertical panels of carved leaves on the wall face, and all windows have moulded cills. The ground floor features six similar windows and an eight-panel central door, which is surrounded by an eared bolection architrave. This door also has a frieze enriched with a scroll leaf pattern, curved console brackets, and an entablature that breaks forward over the brackets, culminating in a cornice that curves back in the centre and an elaborate double scroll open pediment with a carved cartouche and supporting side scrolls. The basement has paired windows, and the building is topped with a hipped stone slate roof that has decorative leadwork around the dormers. There are two ashlar chimneys located in the centre valley of the roof.

Inside, Parade House features contemporary panelled rooms, one of which has an inlaid floor with cross banding between the boards. The fine oak staircase includes a carved string and a panelled and ramped dado, along with rich plasterwork, particularly a fruit and flower cornice in the stairwell. The hall has a segmental arch, and the tall bolection door surrounds are fitted with brass Dutch drop handles. A door leading into the left-hand room has a slight break into the cornice. There is a pitched path leading to the pavement.

Parade House is part of an outstanding group that includes Nos 65 to 68 and Nos 70 to 73, as well as the railings and gates to Nos 68 and 70, a dwarf stone wall to No 72, No 64 (Lloyds Bank), and Usher's Brewery Corner Block, forming a cohesive architectural ensemble with No 8 and the premises occupied by K.J. Lestor to the southwest of No 8 Wicker Hill.