34 Fore Street and attached gate pier

This is a house, now used as two shops with a dental surgery above, built around 1820. It is located on the south side of Fore Street in Chard. The exterior is stuccoed over limestone rubble, with a door surround made from Ham Hill stone and painted stone dressings. The roof is not visible, but is likely slate, with rendered brick stacks at the gable ends.

The building has two storeys and a symmetrical five-window front. There are steps leading to a Ham Hill stone doorcase with a six-panel door set within a reeded architrave, topped with a decorative fanlight. A mid-19th century inner door has margin-pane glazing. Mid-20th century shop fronts have been inserted on either side of the entrance. Above the door is a late 19th-century curved bay window with a single-pane sash window. This sits above a shallow panelled base and moulded cornice, flanked by late 19th-century single-pane sash windows with painted keystones and sills. A painted moulded cornice and pilasters with an incised key pattern at the top run along the building. The parapet has a moulded coping that returns to the end stacks and is panelled to the centre and right, with the left side filled in.

Inside, the central hall and staircase date from the late 19th century and feature a polychromatic tile floor and two margin-pane glazed doors that lead to separate staircases with turned balusters and newel posts. On the first floor, a six-panel door is set within a Regency-style architrave, and traces of a reeded cornice remain.

Attached to the left-front corner is a stone gate pier approximately 9 feet tall, with a moulded pyramidal cap, incised panels to the front and side and a small plinth. This pier forms part of the entrance to the rear of the property.