16, 16a and 17, Suffolk Parade

This building comprises a pair of shops with residential flats above, dating from approximately 1820 to 1834. It is constructed with ashlar stone facing a brick core, and features brick end stacks. The exterior is two storeys high, displaying four first-floor windows with recessed entrance wings on either side. The corners of the projecting range have a curved plan. The first floor has four single-pane sash windows, with those at the ends following the curved plan. A crowning entablature and blocking course with copings tops the facade. The entrances at either end have six-panel doors with overlights. The shop fronts feature part-glazed six-panel doors and overlights with margin lights, set within pilastered surrounds and embellished corner brackets, and include plate-glass windows with Doric pilasters. A further entrance to No. 17 has a five-panel door. The interior has not been inspected. Depicted on Merrett’s 1834 map but not the Post Office Map of 1820, the building represents a significant surviving example of a fine 19th-century commercial facade with bowed corners, and it adjoins No. 15.