18, Market Square

Number 18 Market Square is a late 17th-century town house, possibly designed by Henry Bell (1647-1711). It stands on the south side of Northampton's Market Square, one of the largest in England, where a market has operated since 1235.

The building is constructed of stucco-covered brick, comprising three bays and three storeys with attics. The front elevation displays three unhorned sixteen-paned sash windows to the first and second floors, separated by Ionic pilasters with swags below the capitals. Swags also appear below the second-floor windows, with bands containing centrally placed consoles above them. Brackets project below the eaves, and a dormer window sits at the centre of the roof. At ground floor level, pilasters flank the modern shop window and glazed door with overlight.

Inside, the entrance lobby opens to a door on the right giving access to a single open space. Fragments of a dentilled cornice survive between what would have been the front and back rooms. An open well staircase with turned balusters provides access to the upper floors. Each of the first and second floors contains two main rooms, one facing the street and one to the rear. The first-floor front room features a dentilled plaster cornice and wooden fireplace surround with a mantelpiece supported on Doric columns. The back room also retains a dentilled cornice and fireplace with dentil decoration and a mantelpiece supported on consoles. The second-floor front room displays exposed tie beams, though its fireplace has been covered over below the mantelpiece. The back room on the second floor has been subdivided and contains no original features. The attic is ceiled above the purlins with plastered walls, leaving the principal rafters exposed.

The building dates to the late 17th century, following the great fire of 1675 which destroyed about three quarters of Northampton's town centre. Number 18 is one of the earliest of the nine listed buildings that face onto the south and west sides of the square, which date from between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. The building is notable for its elegant design with well-crafted detail, the survival of significant internal features, and its likely association with Henry Bell, a noted architect remembered for the Grade I-listed Custom House at Kings Lynn. The characteristic use of Ionic capitals with swags, a signature motif of Bell's work, suggests his influence on this design. The building has group value within the context of other designated buildings of similar date around the square.