Summary
Terraced townhouses. Built in the late C18 with ground-floor shops later added (and removed from number 56) and alterations in the late C19 and C20.
Reasons for Designation
54-58 London Street, Reading, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as late-C18 townhouses that contribute to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.
Group value:
* the buildings are in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and form part of a strong historic grouping.
History
The first written record of Reading dates from the ninth century. Asser’s Life of Alfred (part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) records a battle at Reading in January 871 between the Danes and the forces of King Ethelred and his brother Alfred, who would go on to become Alfred the Great. Reading is described in this account as ‘Readingum’, likely derived from ‘Readingas’, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means ‘Reada’s people’ in Old English. By the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066, Reading had become a town of notable size. After Reading Abbey was founded in 1121, the town grew substantially, spurring cloth production, the establishment of the new Market Place, and what would today be known as London Street, an extension to the High Street that facilitated trade to and from London. By 1525, the town’s thriving cloth industry led Reading to become the largest town in Berkshire. In 1542, Henry VIII’s royal charter made Reading a borough. 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. 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. Several developments during this period spurred further growth and prosperity, including the arrival of the Great Western Railway in 1840, improvements to the navigability of the River Kennet, and the growth of the local brewing industry. London Street became a fashionable part of town, especially after High Bridge was constructed over the River Kennet in 1788. The survival of many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings along London Street testifies to its prosperity during this period.
54-58 London Street was constructed in the late C18. By the late C19, ancillary buildings had been added to the rear elevations, with the largest being an extensive range adjoining to the west of number 56. In 1895, the three buildings were in use primarily as private residences, although retail units with shop windows had been added to numbers 54 and 56. The rear elevation was altered in the late C19 or early C20 and the ancillary structures were demolished during the C20. The roof was altered in the late C20 and roof lights were inserted. 54-58 London Street currently (2023) function as private residences, with number 56 partially used as a therapy clinic. 56 London Street is understood to contain a wide-panelled hallway and a reeded marble fireplace among other features.
Details
Terraced townhouses. Built in the late C18 with ground floor shops later added (and removed from number 56) and alterations in the late C19 and C20.
MATERIALS: constructed of red brick with a clay tile mansard roof. There are iron spearhead railings to the front of the properties and iron balconies to the first floor.
PLAN: a terrace of three, three-storey townhouses with attics. Each property is of a rectangular plan orientated east-west, fronting London Street to the east. There is a former shop to the ground floor of 54 London Street.
EXTERIORS: each townhouse is three bays wide. At ground-floor level, 56 and 58 London Street have an entrance doorway in the northernmost bay followed by two six-over-six sash windows with narrow glazing bars and rubbed brick voussoirs to the south. The entrances have a panelled door and transom light surrounded by a moulded timber doorcase with architrave, cornice and console brackets. The windows to number 56 are a late-C20 reinstatement of the original form, following the removal of an earlier shop window. 54 London Street has an entrance doorway in the southernmost bay and a shop window with a large plate glass window occupying the two bays to the north. The shop window is surrounded by an architrave, moulded cornice and console brackets. At the first- and second-floor level, all three houses have three bays of fenestration. The windows reflect Classical proportions; tall six-over-six sashes to the piano nobile at first floor level and shorter sashes to the second floor, comprising three-over-three panes. All the openings have flat-arched heads with rubbed brick voussoirs. There are ornamental iron balconies to each of the first-floor windows. A brick string course runs between the first and second storeys, and a heavy dentilled cornice is located between the second storey and the brick parapet. Both the string course and cornice have been painted white. A tile mansard roof covers the three houses. The rear, west elevation is an irregular arrangement of segmental-headed sash windows to each house.
