Love's Auction Rooms, 52-54 Canal Street

Love's Auction Rooms, located at 52-54 Canal Street, is a building likely designed by A G Heiton in 1905, incorporating elements from earlier 19th century structures. It was extended to the rear in the earlier to mid-20th century. The building features a rare and finely detailed neo-Tudor façade, consisting of a tall two-storey, six-bay, L-plan auction room. Notable elements include the original 1905 wrought iron and copper sign by N & E Spittle of Birmingham, some coloured leaded glass, and a central covered court flanked by stores and offices on the north front. The design includes polychrome bands on a tall circular brick stalk that rises from a square rubble base at roof height, along with additional stores to the south.

The exterior is made of stugged squared rubble with droved quoins and mock half-timbering displayed in chevron, square, cross, and diamond patterns. Architectural details include a moulded segmental-arched voussoired doorpiece, relieving arches, chamfered arrises, raked cills, stone and timber mullions, and timber transoms. The windows are mostly bipartite and four-light.

The principal north elevation features a broad central doorway with a two-leaf timber door that is multi-panelled and boarded, showcasing trefoil details on the top panels and large cast iron hinges. The first floor has jettied central bays supported by moulded timber brackets, with the word 'LOVE' displayed at the centre of the gablehead. The flanking gableheads are also jettied and feature pargeting below the half-timbering.

The building has multi-pane glazing patterns throughout, with smaller panes in the upper lights of the north elevation, and the windows are framed in timber and metal. The roofs are covered with grey slates, some of which are piended. The eaves are deeply overhanging, revealing exposed rafters, decorative bargeboards, and decorative ironwork finals.

Inside, the auction rooms retain a simple, largely unaltered interior, including an office door with an etched glass panel, timbered walls, and boarded ceilings that feature decorative cast iron ventilators. The full-height central court is supported by cast iron columns, now with a first-floor infill. There is an arcaded wall leading to a side store with full-height multi-pane infill. The valuables room, which appears on the 1905 plan and includes a heating chamber at the southeast angle, features a full-width brick shelf beneath a stone slab top.