Pearce'S Leather Works

Pearce’s Leather Works is a leather works and generator/garage block, built in 1939 by Wilfrid Lawson Carter. The building is constructed of rendered and whitewashed brick with a red brick plinth, dark brick headers, and parapeted roofs covered in glazed corrugated sheet with coloured tile banding. It showcases International Modern style, and is characterised by metal windows. The layout is a large rectangular form with a corner cut away, and the office block situated within the re-entrant angle. The office block is composed of a high central section with canted sides, and lower wings projecting from those sides. A north-light factory stretches behind and to the left.

The two-storey office block includes an attic to the central section. This section is distinguished by three tall windows at first floor level and three smaller windows in the attic, set within a decorative band of tiling. The ground floor features a central doorway, accessed by steps, with a wide projecting flat hood and a decorative tiled surround featuring a scrolling design. This leads to double-glazed doors with metal grilles. Flanking the doorway are two-light windows, and the canted sides of the central section accommodate the projecting wings. There is a four-window range of five-light casements with transoms on both floors to each side, followed by a window on the canted corner, and then a further window at the ends of the wings. Similar windows are located to the rear of the wings. Behind these stretches the factory, composed of conventional north-light sheds with simpler detailing to the various doors and windows.

Inside the office block, the entrance hall features a floor of miniature tiles forming a star pattern, and a panelled ceiling. Doors throughout have moulded surrounds with inlaid darker lines, and the office suites feature glazing with patterned line etching. The staircase hall has an open well staircase with a wood-panelled dado and stepped balustrade, incorporating a curving metal rail in multiple sections set into the stepped top and around the landing. The Board Room, located above the entrance, has canted corners, wooden panelling, decorative double doors, and fireplaces at each end.

Across the left-hand driveway is the generator and garage block, similarly styled. The taller section, containing a turbine tower, is three-storeys high with a loading door and window to the ground floor, two windows above, and a single tall window at the top. A single-storey section to the left, partially set-back, features windows and wide loading/garage doors.

This leather works, originally combining a tannery and leather dressers, along with the generator and garage block, forms a significant group notable for its entrance gatepiers and gates, forecourt pool, and an unusual example of a 1930s leather works with fine architectural detailing, constructed on a greenfield site.