Shopfront at 32 Sheep Street

This is a former jeweller’s shopfront located at 32 Sheep Street, dating from around 1908. The rest of the building is not included in the listing.

The shopfront features timber-framed glazing, a glazed-tile stall riser, and marble and mosaic flooring at the entrance. The east-facing shopfront is symmetrical, with a projecting box fascia supported by fluted pilasters with consoles. It has a recessed glazed frontage flanked by quadrants and a recessed central door. The stall riser is made of rich brown glazed tiles with a moulded plinth and a short moulded timber riser above. The windows include a transom just above half-height, with very shallow arches on the lower lights, and there is carving in the spandrels and on the imposts of the slender colonettes. The corners of the door recess are curved, and the door itself is glazed with some carving and a brass Art Nouveau handle, topped with an open segmental pediment below the transom light. Beyond the marble outer threshold, the mosaic floor is in white and grey, featuring lettering that transitions from brown to red, stating the address and the name J BIRDSALL & SONS, flanked by a flower design. The soffit of the fascia is ribbed and painted white, likely originally intended to be mirrored glass.

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