E H Hooper

This is a mid-18th century house, now a shop, located on the south side of High Street, Bridgwater. It is constructed of Flemish-bond brick with a stone cornice, platband, keystones, and cills, and has a pantile roof, hipped at the front with a brick stack to the right and gabled to the rear block. The building follows a double-depth plan and is of a Mid-Georgian style.

The principal facade is symmetrical with a two-window range across three storeys. A parapet wall with scrolled ends features a pediment with a moulded cornice centered above the main cornice. Flat gauged brick arches support 3/6-pane sash windows on the second floor, while plate-glass sashes with margin panes are present on the first floor. The ground floor is occupied by a late 19th-century shop with a cornice that returns to the left, incorporating a black and gold mirrored glass fascia with gold ornamental borders and lettering that reads "Silk Mercer and Draper. E.H.Hooper. Millinery and Mantles." The shop’s entrance has a glazed door with bolection moulding, a brass handle, polychromatic tiles, and an elaborately panelled ceiling. Display windows flank the entrance, and a return side features 8/8-pane sash windows with thick glazing bars and moulded forward frames to the upper floors. A 20th-century window is found on the ground floor to the left, while a blocked door, cut into by the shop front, is located to the right of a blind window.

The rear of the building is constructed of rough Flemish-bond brickwork and includes a blocked door on the first floor. A two-storey section with an attic and a three-window range projects from the main block. It features two raking dormers, with a two-light casement window at eaves level on the left and a three-light half-dormer on the right. The section to the left of the rear block is set back slightly. The first floor has segmental gauged brick arches above two/two-pane sashes, the rightmost of which is above a former wider opening. A platband runs above timber lintels. A six-panel door with a six-pane overlight is located to the left, flanked by 20th-century windows.

The interior features a mid-19th century staircase with turned balusters that rises to the first floor. Historically, the first floor once spanned the footpath to St Mary’s Church; the rough brickwork on the first floor was originally an interior plastered wall with a door, and part of the building was demolished in the late 19th century. The shop front is of exceptional quality and contributes significantly to the High Street.