Summary
House with an early to mid-C18 frontage, possibly incorporating earlier building fabric within, converted to commercial use on the ground floor during the mid-C19 and on the upper floors during the C20. The upper floors were converted back to residential use during the 2000s.
Reasons for Designation
8 Castle Street, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a building with a C18 frontage and possible earlier building fabric within, which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.
Historic interest:
* as part of the urban development of Reading’s ancient core.
Group value:
* the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.
History
The crossroads formed by the north-south route of St Mary’s Butts and Bridge Street and the east-west route of Gun Street and Castle Street is believed to be the centre of the original Saxon settlement at Reading, established sometime before the ninth century with the lowest crossing point of the River Kennet lying a short distance away to the south. Reading was well-established by the time of the Norman Conquest, and the Domesday Book (1086) records six mills and a large estate in the town. St Mary’s Church, which lies on the north-east corner of the crossroads and was mostly rebuilt in 1551 and 1555, was the town’s primary church until the establishment of Reading Abbey in the C12 and became so again following the Dissolution in the late 1530s.
Running west from the crossroads, Castle Street forms part of the ancient route through the town between London and the West Country, and the street historically contained many inns and guesthouses. As Reading expanded beyond its medieval limits during the C18 and C19, development spread further along Castle Street. Until the mid-C20, redevelopment on the street was piecemeal and mostly confined to individual plots, leading to the street’s great architectural diversity. This pattern was broken in the late 1960s and 1970s, with the construction of the expansive civic complex on the north side of Castle Street, and of the Inner Relief Road immediately to the west of the new complex. These major works required the demolition of most of the buildings on the north side of Castle Street and severed the more commercial, eastern end of the street nearer the town centre and the more residential, western end of the street as it becomes Castle Hill.
8 Castle Street occupies a narrow plot with a rendered elevation with neoclassical motifs on the north side of Castle Street. The neoclassical frontage, of the early to mid-C18, may conceal an earlier building behind. Its ground floor was converted to commercial use sometime during the C19, and a shopfront was added at around that time. By the late C20, the upper floors and basement were in use as offices, but these were converted to residential use during the 2000s. The exterior of the building was refurbished in 2023 as part of the Reading High Street Heritage Action Zone.
Details
House with an early- to mid-C18 frontage possibly incorporating earlier building fabric within, converted to commercial use on the ground floor during the mid-C19 and on the upper floors during the C20. The upper floors were converted back to residential use during the 2000s and the exterior of the building was restored in 2023.
MATERIALS: the building is externally rendered and has a mixed roof covering of slate (to the southern roof slope) and plain tiles (to the rest of the roof).
PLAN: the building has a long, rectangular footprint running north from Castle Street.
EXTERIOR: 8 Castle Street is of three storeys plus basement across three bays, under a pitched roof with a north-south slope to the principal, southern range and an east-west slope over the rear range. The principal, south elevation is symmetrically arranged. On the ground floor is a mid- to late-C19 shopfront with a late-C20 six-panelled door with a radiating fanlight above, flanked by thin, timber pilasters rising to a timber open pediment. The doorway is flanked by a pair of six-over-six timber sash windows. Above the shopfront, and partially overlapping with the pediment, is a row of plain timber dentils. Above, the first and second floors are slightly jettied. The first and second floors each have a range of three, recessed, timber sash windows; those on the first floor have six-over-six glazing and those on the second floor have three-over-six glazing. Between the two floors is a raised stucco panel. At the top of the elevation is a simple timber cornice with dentils. There is a single, flat-roofed dormer containing a timber casement facing onto Castle Street. There is a single, small window to the attic on the east elevation of the front range. The east elevation of the rear range contains casement windows on each floor and a pitched-roofed dormer with a timber casement window facing eastward. The north elevation contains a single window lighting the attic storey. The primary range is perpendicular to the street with a rear cross-wing which links to a separately listed, C17-cottage (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1321963).
