Crockett And Jones

Boot and shoe factory. Built 1889-90 by Charles Dorman for Crockett and Jones, with extensions of 1896 by Alexander E. Anderson, 1910 by Brown and Mayor, and 1935 by F. H. Allen. The building occupies a rectangular site bounded by Perry Street, Magee Street and Turner Street.

The Magee Street front of 1889-90 is of 2 storeys with part rising to attic. Red brick with stone dressings and hipped slate roofs. The central section displays 5 sash windows at first-floor level, with 3 similar windows above in the attic flanked by curving volutes and topped by a stone pediment. The inscription 'Crockett and Jones' is set in a wide stone frieze below the sill level. At ground floor are 4 wooden mullion and transom windows with a blocked doorway in a stone doorcase to the right, now converted to a window. Flanking this central frontispiece are 2-storey blocks: 5 windows to the left and 4 to the right. These ranges continue around the corners with 4 window ranges on the side elevations.

The Turner Street front is the 2-storey range added in 1896, which originally extended across the back to Perry Street. This front features 8 large multi-paned windows at ground floor, set within 4 tall otherwise blind arches. The first floor is top-lit by a skylight covering almost the entire north roof slope.

Beyond this is the substantial 1910 block, probably the first steel-framed building in Northampton. This is a 4-storey structure with basement and flat roof. It displays 7 bays of continuous multi-paned glazing with narrow brick piers rising to wide bracketed eaves and bands of walling below the sills. The narrower side elevations follow a similar design.

On Perry Street, to the right of the corner block, stands the 1935 addition: 3 storeys, 8 windows wide, featuring again almost continuous multi-paned glazing with brick walling. Similar windows appear on the narrower ends. The present principal office entrance is at the far left, comprising a stripped classical doorcase with narrow windows to either side, double doors and decorative overlight, with a console serving as the keyblock. Probably original light fittings remain above the windows.

The interior retains workshops in the Perry Street, Turner Street and Magee Street ranges, with work-benches positioned by the windows in the Magee Street section.

The internationally known firm of Crockett and Jones was founded in 1879 and is first recorded at this location in 1890. The firm expanded rapidly. The Turner Street block of 1910 is notable as an interesting vertical equivalent of north light sheds: though facing north and thus requiring less ground space, it allowed the firm to minimise demolition of existing houses on the site whilst maintaining its employee base close to the original location.

This is a fine example of a boot and shoe factory that evolved and expanded over more than a century, demonstrating contemporary building provision with each expansion phase.