85, High Street

BARNSTAPLE

SS5533SE HIGH STREET 684-1/7/154 (West side) 31/08/88 No.85

GV II

House and shop, now building society offices. Mid C19. Rendered walls, probably of brick. Slated roof. 3 storeys. 1-window range to High Street, 5 windows to Cross Street; one window on recessed, rounded corner. Ground storey has round-arched openings, 3 to High Street, one on the corner and 7 to Cross Street. Pilaster strips, originally rusticated, flank the 3 High Street openings and the corner opening, and also divide the Cross Street openings into pairs. The present entrance is in the High Street front; it was originally on the corner. Ground storey is finished with a moulded cornice; this breaks forward over each pilaster, being decorated with a lion-head and supported by a scroll. On the corner the cornice is dentilled and supported by a shell-like bracket. Upper-storey windows have plain architraves. Towards High Street the windows have a `Venetian' 3-light arrangement set in a broad cement frame rising through both storeys; early photograph shows ornate cornices and brackets have been removed (Baxter & Baxter). All 2nd-storey windows have low balustrades in front and contain French windows with 4 panes each. 2nd-storey windows have 4-pane sashes; continuous cill-band towards Cross Street and on the corner. Fronts are finished with a broad band surmounted by a patterned balustrade divided by panelled pedestals, the pedestals towards High Street decorated with rosettes. INTERIOR not inspected. This building is included for its group value and its prominent position in the High Street, at the corner of Cross Street. It was formerly a chemist's shop. (Baxter J & Baxter J: Barnstaple Yesterday: 1980-: PL 42; Knights Photographers, Barnstaple: Photograph No.F524).

Listing NGR: SS5577633211