33 Chapel Street

33 Chapel Street is a Grade II* listed office building of the early 19th century, built in the Classical style.

The building is constructed of coursed red sandstone ashlar with a rendered rear and side elevation, and is topped with a Westmorland slate roof. It follows an L-shaped plan, forming a double-fronted building with a central entrance, one room deep, and a narrow rear range.

The exterior presents as a two-storey, three-bay composition sitting over a partial basement, beneath a hipped slate roof with tall brick end chimneys. The façade is articulated with a moulded eaves cornice, long and short quoins, sill bands to both ground and first floors, and a plinth. The central focal point is a round-arched entrance with engaged Tuscan columns and an open pediment containing a semi-circular fanlight; it retains an original six-panel door. This entrance is flanked by replacement horned four-light sliding sash windows in plain sandstone surrounds, with three similar windows serving the first floor. A stone access stair and pavement run parallel to the front elevation. The left return is blank. At the rear, a round-headed window features Y-shaped Regency glazing bars and crown glass panes. The narrow projecting range contains a blocked carriage arch on its south side and a blocked window on the east side, the latter cut through by an inserted 21st-century window. A short L-shaped stone wall attached to the south-east corner of the rear range is not included in the listing.

Interior

The original plan of four principal heated rooms arranged across two floors either side of a small stair hall remains intact. Throughout the principal rooms and stair halls, an original unified timber and plaster Classical decorative scheme survives on both floors. This comprises reeded architraves with blocked corners enriched with rosettes and acanthus leaves to all window and door openings, moulded cornices some bearing rosette motifs, fluted dado rails, skirting boards, shutters with panelled soffits, and four original six-panel doors with much original door furniture.

Fireplaces survive in three principal rooms. The ground floor north room contains an early 19th-century stone fireplace with a late 19th-century inserted tiled grate, and round-headed built-in cupboards with Classical moulded surrounds matching the architrave detailing. Access through the east wall leads to the rear range, which was fitted as a strong room by Chubb and Sons Lock and Safe Co Ltd; the door retains original furniture including locks and the makers' nameplate, whilst an early handwritten paper shelving schedule attached to the inside lists the firm's clients. The south ground floor room has plain built-in cupboards lining one wall. A cellar, now accessed by a hatch from adjacent 33A Chapel Street, features a stone-flagged floor, numbered stone-slab storage shelves, a blocked narrow splayed window, and the remains of a stone quarter winder stair. The stair hall contains an under-stairs cupboard with ornate moulded surround and fanlight, and a similarly styled timber stair arch.

The central open-string bracketed stair rises over two flights around a half landing with four unusual quarter winders; a slender moulded newel rests on the bottom step. The stick balustrade supports a simple handrail that ramps and wreaths around the half landing, whilst each tread has half-round nosing above a cavetto. The stair window is fitted with a panelled soffit and reveals. The first floor north room contains a Regency-style fireplace and similar built-in cupboards to those below; it gains access through a re-used plank and batten door to the first floor of the rear range, fitted as a kitchen. The first floor south room features an early 19th-century dark marble fire surround and a full-height segmental-headed alcove with decorative surround matching the overall scheme.