6: 170 to 175 High Street West
Cross the street heading towards Hutchinson's Buildings and continue down High Street West past the butterfly mural. 170 to 175 High Street West are the three terraced houses on your right across from the Lambton.
The three terraced houses were built around 1800, at the time when Old Sunderland began expanding west towards Bishopwearmouth. Originally residences for the middle class, they were soon converted into shops and offices. The properties were built with the clean lines of Georgian houses of the period. The large plate glass shop fronts and windows are distinctly Victorian in design.
The first terrace on the far left (No. 170) housed one of the two banks in Sunderland during the early-19th century. J & Co. Backhouse's Bank, one of the most influential in the North East opened a branch here in 1816. In 2018, Historic England produced a report that found that the Bank added a two-brick deep vault lined with iron panels with an ironwork arch behind the building. The vault may have been designed to be fire-proof which suggests it may have once held important documents.
The most notable shop owner of the properties was George Binns, a Lancastrian draper, and his family. Binns moved into the middle property (No. 173) in 1811 and occupied the building for 73 years. Earning a good reputation for the quality of their products and fair business dealings, the shop grew until Binns & Sons moved to a larger building on Fawcett Street in 1885. The small family-owned drapery and linen business became Sunderland's biggest and best-loved department store chain.
Several of the store's branches had to be rebuilt following the aftermath of the Luftwaffe air raids up and down the North East. Binns Ltd reopened in 1953, but House of Fraser bought the chain later that year. Sunderland's branch closed in 1993.
