33 London Street

Summary

Scientific and mechanics’ institution, completed in 1843 to designs by William Brown. The building was converted to a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1866, to a cinema in the 1940s or 1950s, to offices by the late C20, and has been in use as a hotel and public house since the early C21.

Reasons for Designation

33 London Street, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its elegant neoclassical style frontage that contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape;
* for its varied institutional history.

Historical interest:

* for its association with Charles Dickens.

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 first written record of Reading dates from the ninth century when the name seems to have referred to a tribe, called Reada’s people. It is possible that there was a river port here during the Roman occupation, and by 1086 there was a thriving urban community, recorded in the Domesday Book. The early Anglo-Saxon settlement is believed to have been located in the Castle Street and St Mary’s area, which has St Mary’s Minster at its heart.

Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 on a site to the north-east of the core of the Saxon town and this transformed Reading into a place of pilgrimage as well as an important trading and ecclesiastical centre with one of the biggest and richest monasteries in England.

A new bridge over the River Kennet had been built by 1186 and London Street was laid out with plots of land as part of the Abbot of Reading Abbey’s urban planning vision. The aim was to divert trade and traffic to the new marketplace at the gates of the Abbey. The transition from the old marketplace at St Mary's Butts was at first resisted by the merchants of Reading but the move was complete by the C14. The dissolution of the Abbey led to the monastic complex becoming a royal palace and by 1611 the town’s population had grown to over 5,000 as a result of its cloth trade John Speed’s map shows that by 1611, both sides of London Street had been developed with continuous frontages for a considerable distance southward, beyond the modern junction with Crown Street-London Road, with long gardens, outhouses and fields beyond. Several buildings which predate Speed’s map survive on London Street, some concealed behind later, brick façades. Following significant upheaval during the Civil War, the town flourished during the C18 and C19, and the survival of many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings which characterise London Street testifies to the prosperity of the street during this period.

33 London Street was built in 1842-1843 to designs by the local architect, William Brown (1809-1865). The cornerstone was laid on 31 August 1842 by the poet and author, Mary Russell Mitford. The neoclassical building opened as the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics’ Institution, but was also known as the New Public Rooms or simply New Hall. It was a venue for lectures, concerts and other ‘improving’ events. Charles Dickens had been invited to attend the opening of the building on 24 October 1843 but was unable to attend, sending a letter wishing the new building success. However, on 19 December 1854, when Dickens was serving as the President of the Mechanics’ Institution, he read an excerpt from ‘A Christmas Carol’, at the Institution. He returned on 8 November 1858, on his first commercial reading tour, with excerpts from both ‘Dombey and Son’ and ‘The Pickwick Papers’.

The building was the subject of very early photographs taken in around 1845 by William Fox-Talbot, the pioneer of photography who carried out photographic experiments in the town during the 1840s.

In 1866, the building was converted to a Primitive Methodist Chapel and remained in use as such until the 1930s. By 1957, it had been converted once more, becoming a cinema under the Everyman chain. By the late C20, the building was in use as offices. Then, between 1995 and the early 2000s, it was converted to a hotel and public house.

The sash windows to the principal elevation were renewed in the late C20 but replicate the original windows.

Details

Scientific and mechanics’ institution, completed in 1843 to designs by William Brown. The building was converted to a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1866, to a cinema in the 1940s or 1950s, to offices by the late C20, and has been in use as a hotel and public house since the early C21.

MATERIALS: the building’s principal (west) elevation is faced in a cream-coloured stone, possibly Bath Stone, with a granite base. The flank walls and rear (east) elevation are of red brick laid in English bond. The roof is covered in slate.

PLAN: long, rectangular plan of three storeys plus basement, running east from London Street. On the two upper floors, the plan is split into two ranges: a shorter front range to the west and a longer rear range to the east, joined by a narrower section containing a vestibule, with a curved south elevation.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation is designed in a neoclassical style and replicates the design of a portico. Rising from a granite base are a pair of pilasters at either side of the elevation, and a pair of Ionic half-columns flank the central bay. Above the pilasters and columns is an entablature and triangular pediment. When first listed in 1957 the frieze was inscribed ‘Primitive Methodist Chapel 1866’ but this is no longer evident. The raised ground floor has banded rustication, with a string course of Greek key pattern immediately above at first-floor sill height. The main entrance sits at the centre of the raised ground floor and comprises a pair of ten-panelled doors reached via four stone steps from the street. Within the two outer bays are tripartite sash windows with a central, six-over-six sash flanked by narrow, two-over-two sashes, with rusticated stone mullions between. On the first and second floors, there are three timber-sash windows set within moulded architraves, those on the first floor with six-over-six glazing and those on the second floor with three-over-three glazing. The first-floor architraves to the two outer bays have cornices while the central architrave has a pediment on scroll brackets.

The north and south elevations are of exposed red brickwork with ranges of sash and casement windows on each floor, all seemingly of the C20. There is a two-storey projection placed centrally on the rear (east) elevation, with a timber casement window on the ground and first floors and a hipped roof above.

INTERIOR: it is understood that some historic fixtures and fittings survive.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39026

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Gold, S M, A Biographical Dictionary of Architects at Reading, (1999), p27.
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, Tyack, G, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (2010), pp438-440.

Websites
Reading Borough Council, History of Reading (2012), accessed 12 September 2023 from https://web.archive.org/web/20120425235452/http:/www.reading.gov.uk/residents/history-of-reading/
Ditchfield, PH, Page, W, A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp336-342., accessed 12 September 2023 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3
Dr Stuart Eagles, Ruskin, Books and Reading (21 August 2022), accessed 12 September 2023 from https://stuarteagles.co.uk/31-ruskin-books-and-reading/

Other
Reading Borough Council, ‘Huntley & Palmers Audio Trail: Market Place and London Street’. Available at: https://www.reading.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/heritage-and-conservation/readings-high-street-heritage-action-zone/community-engagement/reading-audio-trails/huntley-palmers-audio-trail-market-place-and-london-street/

End of official list entry

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