143, Fore Street

Number 143 Fore Street is a late 17th-century building, with significant alterations and additions in the 18th and 19th centuries. The visible front is the upper portion of a four-story, five-window red brick building. Rainwater heads indicate construction in 1716 and 1717. Features include burnt headers, stone quoins, a cornice, and keystones. Later Georgian sash windows are present. The rear elevation is red brick, originally with three windows and segmental-headed sashes. A coved cornice is visible, along with a parapet concealing the roof. A two-story, three-window plastered wing set at a right angle also contains early 18th-century sash windows. A doorway leading to a modern building (Wheaton’s Registered Office) incorporates an enriched plaster hood supported by brackets; this doorway was likely originally the principal entrance to the house. An early 19th-century cast iron printing press is preserved in the courtyard as a museum piece. The house was likely built by Sir Thomas Bury and later occupied by Sir John Duntze in 1749. It forms a group with numbers 140 to 144 Fore Street.