31, 37, STRAMONGATE

These are two houses, now shops and offices, built in the late 18th century for Reverend Father Johnson. Later additions and alterations have been made. Constructed of wet-dashed rubble with rusticated quoins to a plinth of coursed, squared rubble, the building has a dentil cornice and a graduated slate roof with a rendered chimney to the west and a stone chimney in the middle. The building is three stories high with cellars, and originally consisted of five bays, designed in a symmetrical layout. The office entrance features a semicircular head with projecting imposts and a keystone. Single sash windows are present on each floor, including in the cellar; the left-hand cellar window and a single window to each floor above the entrance are now blocked. A rear passage entrance mirrors the office entrance, with a glazed door and window. An early 20th-century corniced wooden shop front extends to the left, complemented by two sashes on each floor above. The passage contains a glazed door within a corniced doorcase with panelled reveals, while a panelled door is found in a corniced doorcase on the right.