10, 12 AND 14, LOWTHER STREET

10, 12, and 14 Lowther Street is a building that originally served as spirit vaults with a shop and office extension, now functioning as two offices with a saleroom behind. It was constructed in 1868 and 1881 for Hope and Bendal, wine and spirit merchants, both designed by Daniel Birkett of Carlisle. The building is made of quarry-faced calciferous sandstone, set on a chamfered ashlar plinth, and features a bracketed cornice and a balustraded parapet. The roof is made of graduated greenslate, with moulded ashlar ridge and end chimney stacks.

The spirit vaults are located on the right side of the building and are two storeys tall with three bays. The left extension is two-and-a-half storeys high with five bays, carefully designed to match the original structure, featuring a continuous cornice and parapet. The spirit vaults have right panelled doors that are accessed by semicircular steps, with a fanlight set in a granite colonnette surround under a shaped hoodmould. Above, there is a central oriel window with shouldered-arched lights and octofoils above, flanked by sash windows in chamfered surrounds. The left extension has off-centre panelled double doors in an elliptical arch, with two canted bays to the left that retain their original glazing bars, and paired sash windows on the right with cusped designs; all windows and doors are under a continuous shaped hoodmould. There is a left panelled door with a boarded overlight, accessed by steps that match the door in the spirit vaults. The upper floor features casement windows with original glazing bars, with the right window being paired, set in stone architraves under cornices. Half-dormers above also contain casements under shaped pediments.

Inside, behind the central door, there is a stained glass screen, although other details are obscured by modern fascias. The building also has extensive vaulted wine cellars. Original plans for both parts of the building are preserved in the Cumbria County Record Office. Hope and Bendal became part of the State Management Scheme in 1916 and were sold off in 1972.