16 And 17, Market Place

SS4526 842-1/5/162

BIDEFORD MARKET PLACE (East side) Nos.16 AND 17

GV II

Shown on OS map as Nos 15 and 16. Grocer's shop, now office; accommodation above at No 17. 1895. By RT Hookway of Bideford. Rendered solid front; slate roof. Red-brick chimney on ridge, off-centre to right; another on left rear wing (visible from car park). Italian Renaissance style. 3 storeys. Broad front of 4-window range. 4-bay design with pilasters of different styles supporting entablatures above each storey. First and third bays from left are narrow, second and fourth bays wide. Ground storey has panelled Doric pilasters with a diamond-shaped panel in the centre. Above each pilaster, superimposed on the architrave and frieze, is a foliated bracket resembling a capital, the cornice breaking forward over it. Original display windows remain in fourth bay from left: 3 round-arched openings with traceried spandrels, the outer openings glazed, the centre one leading to recessed, half-glazed double-doors with solid moulded panels at the bottom. Ceiling over the recess in front of the doors panelled. Head of a matching window survives in left-hand bay. Third bay from left contains a pair of recessed doorways (door to right 4-panelled); panelled pilaster between them. Second storey has panelled pilasters with foliated capitals, the shafts with circular panels in the middle; entablature with panelled frieze breaking forward over the pilasters and having a diamond-shaped panel above each window. The wider bays contain bay windows having rounded corners and entablatures with panelled friezes; narrower left-hand bay contains a 3-light window, and the third bay from left a pair of windows with 1 light each. All 4 windows have sashes with horns, the middle lights of the left-hand window and the 2 bay windows with margin-panes. Third storey has fluted Doric pilasters rising directly to a dentilled cornice. Wider bays contain 3-light windows with shaped flat surrounds. Third bay from right contains a pair of segmental-headed windows with moulded architraves, buttresses at the foot. All 3 windows have sashes with horns, the upper sashes 9-paned, or 3-paned in the sidelights; the left-hand window, with flat shaped surround, is now blind. Front is finished with a panelled parapet, broken above the pilasters by panelled pedestals carrying urns. Rear wall (clearly visible from Bridge Street car park) has 2 rear wings, that to left (north) of exposed rubble masonry, that to right rendered; between them a lower, flat-roofed range. INTERIOR not inspected. Included for group value. (Bideford Weekly Gazette: 1893-1895; Wilson: Wilsons Bideford Directory: 1895-: P.23).

Listing NGR: SS4530126517