15 High Street

House, Late 1830s

15 High Street is a three-storey house with basement, constructed of coursed ashlar sandstone and coursed rubble gritstone with stone slate roof. It stands on the east side of the northern end of High Street in a row with numbers 17 and 19 and the Town Hall.

The house comprises a main front range with a rear, three-storey wing and a single-storey lean-to outshot.

The three-bay front elevation faces west onto High Street, flanked by an alleyway to the left and abutting numbers 17 and 19 to the right. It is constructed of coursed ashlar stone with a plinth, sill bands on each floor and a moulded cornice. The outer left-hand corner has a pilaster with a capital of double scrolls supporting a square block relief-carved with a wreath; a similar pilaster separates number 15 from number 17. The stone slate roof has stone coping to the left outer edge and two ridge stacks on the right-hand south side.

The first-bay doorway has a moulded stone architrave, six-panelled door and rectangular overlight of three panes with narrow side lights. To the right are two rectangular ground-floor windows with moulded stone architraves, three first-floor windows (the central window with a moulded stone architrave and the outer windows with wedge lintels), and three shorter second-floor windows with wedge lintels. All windows have six-over-one pane sashes, with only the second-floor windows horned. Beneath the ground-floor windows are rectangular barred areas for basement windows.

The north side elevation is of roughly coursed rubblestone with a pitched gable wall to the front range. Two windows are positioned close to a blind, gabled rear wing which is slightly angled to follow the line of the alleyway. Both have square-cut stone frames: the larger ground-floor window has a six-over-six pane sash and the smaller square window above has a two-over-two pane sash.

The rear east elevation is three storeys and two bays, built of roughly coursed rubblestone with corner quoins and widely-spaced stone eaves gutter brackets. The left-hand ground floor has a lean-to outshot of roughly coursed rubblestone with stone slate roof. To the right are a tall rectangular window with a casement frame and fixed upper light, and a former doorway now a casement window with stone blocking below and tiling above. The first floor has two tall rectangular windows with eight-over-twelve pane unhorned sashes; the second floor has two shorter windows with eight-over-eight pane unhorned sashes. All windows and the former doorway have square-cut stone frames. The outshot has a square nine-pane window with a square-cut stone frame.

Interior

The staircase rises on the south side of the building with rooms opening off the stair hall and upper-floor landings to front and rear.

Moulded cornices feature in the majority of rooms, with picture rails in some. Doorways and windows have four-panelled doors with moulded architraves. The front ground-floor windows have panelled soffits, while first-floor doorways and front windows have panelled soffits and jambs with panelling beneath the windows. The doorway from the rear ground-floor room into the outshot has a fielded six-panelled door with a multi-pane rectangular overlight. Several inbuilt cupboards with moulded architraves and shelves remain, some with glazed doors. A painted timber fire surround with pilasters, entablature and mantelpiece survives in the north rear room on the first floor; a plain square-cut stone fire surround stands in the south rear room on the second floor.

The front doorway opens into an inner lobby with black and white diamond floor tiles and a moulded dado rail. An inserted window occupies the right side wall. An inner panelled door with multi-paned glazing to the top half and a large overlight of six panes with coloured-patterned sidelights leads to the stair hall. The full-height cantilevered staircase has shaped step ends, slender turned balusters and a swept mahogany handrail with a scrolled newel at the base and ramped at the top landing with a turned newel post. A rectangular roof lantern with multi-pane glazing lights the stairwell. Stone steps beneath the staircase lead down to the cellar.