10 Market Place

Summary

Commercial shop, built in the C17 or early C18, remodelled in the early to mid-C19, and shop front replaced around 1870.

Reasons for Designation

10 Market Place, a commercial shop, built in the C17 or early C18, remodelled in the early to mid-C19, and shop front replaced around 1870, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a multi-phased commercial building which demonstrates the evolution of the commercial ideal from the late-C17 or early-C18 up to the C21;
* for the elegant and sophisticated late-C19 shop front which survives virtually intact.

Historic interest:
* as a significant and imposing commercial property standing in the heart of the historic Market Place of Harleston and the contribution it makes to the rich architectural and historic character of the town.

Group value:
* for the group value the commercial building holds with other listed buildings fronting Market Place in Harleston, including: Tower House on the north side of Market Place (built in 1873, listed at Grade II); the Magpie Hotel on the south side of Market Place (built in the C18 or earlier, listed at Grade II); 1, 3 and 5 Market Place and 1 The Thoroughfare (probably built in the early C18 and C17 respectively, both listed at Grade II).

History

10 Market Place (formerly 10 and 11 Market Place) was most likely constructed in the C17 or early C18, and is partially depicted in a drawing of St John’s Chapel of Ease around 1820 (demolished in 1873) as a gable-fronted building with a tripartite window to its first and second floors over a shop front. 10 and 11 Market Place and neighbouring 6 and 8 Exchange Street (also listed at Grade II) were remodelled in the early to mid-C19, both buildings remaining in the same ownership until the late C20. The shop front of 10 and 11 Market Place was replaced around 1870, and an early-C20 photograph shows the commercial building as a drapery operated by F Le Grice, with a decorative cast-iron parapet and canopies over the fascia (no longer surviving).

10 and 11 Market Place was sold to Keeley and Belderson, furniture sellers, in 1974, who already owned the attached 1 Green Dragon Lane and 4 Exchange Street. By the time of the 1975 Ordnance Survey map, 10 and 11 Market Place appear to have been subdivided into two units fronting Market Place, however was reinstated as a single unit in the late C20 or early C21. The building was added to the statutory List at Grade II in 1976.

Details

Commercial shop, built in the C17 or early C18, remodelled in the early to mid-C19, and shop front replaced around 1870.

MATERIALS: the roof has a clay pantile roof covering with red brick chimneystacks; the walls are constructed of clay lump, with timber-framing to the north end of the front (west) elevation, and north elevation; the shop front is timber-framed with cast-iron columns; and the rear wall to the courtyard is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond.

PLAN: the building is roughly rectangular in plan, facing west to Market Place.

EXTERIOR: constructed in the C17 or early C18, the building was remodelled in the early to mid-C19, and its shop front was replaced around 1870. The low-pitched hipped roof has a clay pantile covering, a substantial red brick chimneystack on the party wall with nos 6 and 8 Exchange St, a slender chimneystack on the north slope of the roof, and a red brick chimneystack on the rear (east) gable to the rear yard. The front (west) elevation to Market Place is three storeys in height, the north-west and south-west corners having giant engaged pilasters spanning the three floors. The first and second floors have two widely-spaced windows within moulded architraves, containing single-pane timber-framed sash windows. The timber-framed shop front of around 1870 comprises: a plain cornice with modern signage applied to the fascia in the early C21; an engaged pilaster to each end bearing a round-arched cornice and large console bracket; a segmental-arched arcade of slender cast-iron columns over a dark brick plinth (replaced in the late C20 or early C21); a central canted entrance containing a double-leaf glazed door (replaced in the late C20 or early C21) under a plain segmental-arched overlight. The arcaded shop front continues around and projects from the north return, which has a single window to each of the first and second floors. The south return has two bays of windows to each of the first and second floors; the ground floor has a display window in an early to mid-C19 surround comprising a plain shallow cornice and engaged pilasters, and to the right an early-C21 door and surround.

INTERIOR: the shop is open in plan and retains a number of plain classical pilasters and numerous slender cast-iron columns at regular intervals. On the ground floor any other surviving historic features are either covered with carpet or hidden behind commercial wall racking. A straight-stair, introduced around 2009, rises to the first floor from the rear (south-east corner) of the shop. The first floor retains some exposed timber joists and short sections of two timber-framed wall divisions, running west-east, survive in situ. A plain stair, most likely dating from the late C19 when the shop front was replaced, rises to the second floor with a plain wooden handrail and stick balusters. The C19 room divisions, timber-battened wall panelling, and plain timber doors of the second floor survive intact. The basement retains three pointed-arch recesses in its walls, which may indicate a C17 date or possibly earlier. Around the basement, there is a low wall of approximately 0.8m in height, most likely used as a storage shelf. The basement stair was replaced in the late C20 or early C21, and a blocked door opening between the basement of 1 Green Dragon Lane shows the two cellars were formerly interconnected.

10 Market Place is attached to 1 Green Dragon Lane to the north (rebuilt around 1930, not listed), and 6 and 8 Exchange Street to the south-east (built in the early C19, listed at Grade II).

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

225911

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Norfolk Public Houses, 'Green Dragon, Harleston', accessed 19 August 2019 from http://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/norfolkh/harleston/harlesgd.htm
Cinema Treasures, ‘Picture House, Exchange Street, Harleston’, accessed 19 August 2019 from http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/50395
Norfolk at the Pictures, ‘Memories of the Picture House, Harleston’, accessed 19 August 2019 from http://norfolkatthepictures.org.uk/articles/memories-of-the-picture-house-harleston-by-david-c-newby/
Norfolk Heritage Explorer, 'Nos 10 and 11 Market Place', accessed 19 August 2019 from http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF45820

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