Cunnington Bros.

Cunnington Bros. is a boot and shoe factory built around 1882, with a major extension added around 1890 and smaller additions made from the early 20th century to 1923. The building features red and buff brick arranged in a chequer pattern and has a hipped slate roof. It stands three storeys tall, with a long facade facing Crabb Street. The right side of the building, which consists of five windows, dates back to the original 1882 construction, while the left side has nine windows on the first floor from the 1890 extension. The factory primarily has multi-paned wooden windows, with brick segmental arches on the ground and first floors, and a painted narrow continuous lintel on the top floor beneath a dentil frieze made of buff brick. The 1890 section includes twelve windows on the top floor and eleven on the ground floor, featuring a moulded stone doorcase at the far left. To the right of this entrance are two large tripartite sash windows with pediments that illuminate the office suite. The facade facing Park Road is similar, with a projecting taking-in door bay at the center right, topped with a gable, and doors leading to each floor, along with a crane hoist to the right. The right end of this facade has been slightly reduced at some point, possibly to create a fire shield gap. Cunnington Bros. operated this factory until at least 1937, and while it was described as disused in 1973, it has since returned to commercial use. This factory is a notable example of a purpose-built three-storey boot and shoe factory in one of Northamptonshire's important smaller industrial centers, and it remains largely unaltered, with its striking chequer pattern brickwork carefully replicated during the major extension.