70 London Street

Summary

Former terraced house, now flats. Built in the early C19 and altered in the C20.

Reasons for Designation

70 London Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

*     as an early C19 townhouse 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 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.

70 London Street was constructed in the early C19. By the late C19, it was in use as a furniture store. Historically, the rear, west elevation of the building looked onto a long, narrow garden with a few small, ancillary structures. By 1930, another building had been constructed in this area. The rear of number 70 appears to have been altered or extended in the C20, owing to the change in roofline as the eave of the gable roof descends onto a flat roof. The building’s historic sash windows were replaced with single-pane sashes sometime after 1978. The building currently (2023) functions as a private residential building with five apartments.

Details

Former terraced house, now flats. Built in the early C19 and altered in the C20.

MATERIALS: built of brick and faced in Bath Stone ashlar with rustication to the ground floor. Red brick chimney stacks and a slate-covered roof. The rear elevation appears to be painted or rendered.

PLAN: a rectangular plan four-storey terraced house with a basement.

EXTERIOR: the former terraced house is three bays wide with the main street-facing east elevation faced in Bath Stone ashlar. There is banded rustication to the ground floor, which has the main entrance in the southernmost bay and then two round-headed one-over-one sash windows with horns to the north. The entrance is approached by stone steps with an iron railing and contains an eight-panelled door beneath a fanlight. A wide band course separates the ground floor and first floor. There are one-over-one sash windows with horns to each bay above. These generally reflect classical proportions; the tallest sashes to the piano nobile at first-floor level with progressively shorter sashes above. The first-floor sashes are set in moulded architraves with entablatures and moulded cornices. Those to the second floor have moulded architraves but no entablatures, and cills formed of a narrow continuous band course. The windows to the third floor are plainer still, with cills but no architraves. A heavy moulded cornice and stepped stone parapet surmounts the façade. Behind the parapet is a gabled slate-covered roof and a lower mansard roof to the rear. The west (rear) elevation is two bays wide and appears to have uPVC casement windows. The ground floor has a three-light window and rear access doorway whilst the upper storeys each have a three-light window and single-light window. The mansard roof contains two dormer windows.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39047

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Coates, C, Map of Reading (1802).
Goad Fire Insurance Maps of Reading, Sheet 10 (1895).
OS Maps (1:2500): 1879, 1900 and 1934.
Rocque, John, Map of Berkshire (1761).
Speed, John, Map of Redding (1611).
Tyack, G, Bradley, S, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire (2010)
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/

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