5, Southgate Street

GLOUCESTER

SO8318NW SOUTHGATE STREET 844-1/8/251 (East side) 12/03/73 No.5 (Formerly Listed as: SOUTHGATE STREET (East side) No.5 Baker, Watches and Clocks)

GV II

Shop and dwelling. 1904. Brick with dressed stone details, slate roof. Double-depth block. EXTERIOR: four storeys and cellar; on the front a fine well-preserved, original shop-front with recessed entry to left, and large windows of plate glass set in cast-iron frame of colonnettes with small, decorative brackets in the upper angles: the windows framed at each end by slender pilasters inset with panels of mirror glass, and with consoles supporting finials at each end of the fascia, the fascia inscribed in centre "BAKER", to left "PRACTICAL WATCHMAKER", and to right "JEWELLER AND OPTICIAN", all in gilt lettering; on the first floor a wide arched recess with a stone basket arch on moulded stone imposts; on the second and on the third floor three horned sashes with bars in the upper sashes in openings with stone sills projecting from stone bands and stone lintels; pilaster strips at either end of the front corbelled out from second-floor level, a shallow crowning cornice, and parapet with stone balustrade panels. The building is notable for its clock made by Niehus Brothers of Bristol, with five life-size automata figures striking bells on the hours and quarters; the figures standing within the arched recess on the first floor: in the centre Father Time with an hour glass, to right John Bull and a Welshwoman, to the left a Scotsman and an Irishwoman; above the crown of the arch a decorative, cast-iron, cantilever bracket supporting a clock crowned by a brass finial, and hanging from the bracket a larger bell. INTERIOR: not inspected. (BOE: Verey D: Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean: London: 1976-: 250; Gloucester Journal: 26 November: 1904-).

Listing NGR: SO8315518527