24A 24 And 26, Southgate Street

This is a mid- to late-18th century terrace of three shops and dwellings, located on Southgate Street in Gloucester. It has undergone alterations in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The building is constructed of brick with stone detailing, and has a slate roof with dormers and a brick stack.

Originally, number 24 occupied the three bays on the right, and number 26 occupied the four bays on the left. Later alterations have resulted in number 24 now occupying all floors except for self-contained ground floor shops (24A) in the four right-hand bays, and number 26 in the two left-hand bays, with access to number 24 between the shops.

The front of the building features 20th-century shop fronts and fascias. The upper floors consist of seven bays, retaining a moulded stone cornice above the three bays on the right, but this has been dressed back above the four bays to the left. A parapet remains above the three bays on the right, and a late 19th-century parapet, incorporating two gabled dormers with pierced bargeboards and ceramic gable finials, is present on the left. First-floor window openings in the five bays to the right have been blocked and replaced with 20th-century sashes, while the two bays on the left have 19th-century sashes in original openings. Second-floor windows have 18th-century sashes with 3x4 panes, in the three bays to the right, and 19th-century sashes in the four bays to the left. All window openings feature rubbed brick flat arches, and projecting stone sills are visible on the second floor. The roof dormers retain 18th-century casements on the right and 19th-century sashes on the left.

Inside, the entrance hall of number 24 leads to a staircase with closed strings, square newels, and stick balusters, illuminated by a large 18th-century Venetian window from a lightwell behind number 26. The Venetian window possesses sashes with glazing bars, framed by moulded architraves. The principal rooms on the upper floors have moulded plaster cornices. Double-framed roofs are present. The building also has brick-walled and vaulted cellars; the lower part of the front wall in the cellar below number 24A is constructed of stone rubble. This is a largely complete 18th-century urban property which significantly contributes to the Southgate Street streetscape.