Shopfront at 32 Sheep Street

A former jeweller’s shopfront of around 1908. The rest of the building is excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS: timber-framed glazing with glazed-tile stall riser and marble and mosaic entrance flooring.

EXTERIOR: facing east the shopfront is symmetrical with a projecting box fascia supported by fluted pilasters with consoles, and a recessed glazed frontage with flanking quadrants and recessed central door. The stall riser is of rich brown glazed tiles with a moulded plinth, and a short, moulded timber riser above. The windows have a transom just above half-height, with very shallow arches to the lower lights and carving in the spandrels and on the imposts of the slender colonettes. The corners of the door recess are curved. The door is glazed with some carving and a brass Art Nouveau handle, and an open segmental pediment below the transom light. Beyond a marble outer threshold is a mosaic floor in white and grey, with lettering graduated from brown to red stating the address (in the doorway) and the name J BIRDSALL & SONS, flanked by a flower design. The soffit of the fascia is ribbed and painted white (probably originally mirrored glass).

INTERIOR: the internal face of the shopfront is stepped with square angles, and the windows backed by original glazed timber screens with a moulded cornice over and moulded plinth below. The original brass catches and Art Nouveau door handle survive. The outer faces of the quadrants are of mirrored glass, and within the display window, moulded timber ribs link the quadrants’ glazing bars to the outer wall and the inner screen.