23, Silver Street

The entry for SILVER STREET NUMBERS 19, 21 AND 23 AND ATTACHED WALL, GATE PIERS AND GATES, 19, 21 AND 23 SILVER STREET (SOUTH SIDE) Shall be replaced by:-

1939-1/0/10004 SILVER STREET 23 29 July 1976

GV II Shop, formerly a house of late-C18/early-C19 date. Late-C19 rear addition that was substantially rebuilt in the 1930s.

The special interest is concentrated on the frontage to Silver Street. The rest of the building, including the rear range, is not of special architectural or historic interest.

MATERIALS: Of stucco, with limestone rubble to the west return. It has a pantile roof, stepped stone coping and brick stacks to the gable ends.

PLAN: Rectangular on plan, comprising a single-depth range fronting onto the road that was extended to the rear with a workshop range in the later C19. This was partly rebuilt and converted to a cinema in 1931, and subsequently became the furniture department for R A Dyer at No 21 Silver Street(qv) in 1961.

EXTERIOR: Symmetrical, two-storeyed frontage of two bays onto Silver Street. The fenestration to the first-floor consists of revealed sash windows which retain their glazing bars. The ground-floor has a C20 shopfront with a central pair of glazed doors. The fascia has a moulded cornice and carries the name 'SWEET SURPRISE'.

INTERIOR: At ground and first-floor level behind the façade the interior has been remodelled several times, but particularly during its conversion to a cinema when a projection room was added at first-floor. The large addition to the rear (south) which is substantially mid-C20 in date was the auditorium to the former cinema, and was then Dyer's furniture department during the late C20. It has a coved ceiling and a wooden floor and is unremarkable.

HISTORY: In 1870 R P Wheadon established a draper's shop in Ilminster. When it was founded, the business occupied only 180 square foot but, by the time of the company's Golden Jubilee in the 1920s, the shop had grown considerably expanding into rear additions. In 1937 R A Dyer purchased both the business and the adjoining house (Nos 19-21). In 1961 the neighbouring property, No 23 Silver Street was bought and was incorporated into the shop premises, becoming the furniture department. No 23 was sold in the early C21 and is now separately occupied.

SOURCE: Morrison, K.A., English Shops and Shopping - An Architectural History (2003),75-7

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: 23 Silver Street is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• Architectural: an early-C19 building of special interest for its proportions, sash windows and shop front. The rear range and interior of the building are not of interest * Historic Interest: as a record of the growth of R A Dyer (No 21 Silver Street) in late-C20 * Overall grouping: the building forms part of a strong grouping of listed buildings in the centre of Ilminster