Summary
Shop with accommodation above, constructed in the mid-C19, enlarged in the late C19 and altered in the C20 and C21.
Reasons for Designation
33-34 Market Place, Reading is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a well-composed and distinctive neoclassical commercial building of the mid-C19, which contributes to the character of a rich and 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
Modest rural settlements likely existed in the area of Reading as far back as the 1st century. 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, spurred on by 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. Following significant upheaval during the Civil War, the town flourished during C18 and C19. Several developments during the late C18 and C19 encouraged further growth and prosperity, including the arrival of the Great Western Railway, improvements to the navigability of the River Kennet, and the growth of the local brewing industry.
33 Market Place was built in the mid-C19, initially comprising a three-bay frontage. As built, it was bordered on its south elevation by a smaller, three-storey Georgian shophouse (number 34). Around 1870, the ground floor retail units of both number 33 and number 34 were merged to become a single commercial space for the company J S Salmon & Son, a tea merchant. By the late C19, number 34 was demolished and rebuilt in the same neoclassical style as number 33, broadening the building’s east elevation southward by two bays.
Numbers 33 and 34 underwent various extensions to the rear, west elevation in the second half of the C20. At this time, the building became a Trustee Savings Bank, until it was converted to a food and drink establishment in 2000. A two-storey extension was added to the rear, west elevation at this time. The building’s use was changed again in the early C21, becoming the present (2024) letting agency. The building’s first and second floors were converted to offices in 2018 for the letting agency. The shop frontage of numbers 33 and 34 Market Place has been replaced numerous times, with the most recent replacement being the present neoclassical façade completed in the late C20 or early C21.
Details
Shop with accommodation above, constructed in the mid-C19, enlarged in the late C19 and altered in the C20 and C21.
MATERIALS: the street-facing, east elevation is of red brick with stucco dressings and a modern shopfront faced in Bath Stone. The roof covering is slate.
PLAN: 33 and 34 Market Place comprise a principal, three-storey volume with two-storey rear extensions. The C19 front (eastern) block is L-shaped in plan while the later rear extensions are rectangular in plan.
EXTERIOR: the modern ground floor shop frontage of numbers 33 and 34 Market Place contains four arched, full-height window bays, each framed by Doric pilasters that support a simple entablature with the letting agency sign to the south.
The first and second floors of the building have a 2:1:1:1 order of bays with each containing a plate-glass sash window with segmental head. Each window is topped with a stucco swept hood and keystone. The first two bays are framed on either side by paired pilaster strips that run from the first floor to the top of the second floor. The three northernmost bays are separated by a single pilaster strip, with paired pilasters terminating the northernmost side of the east elevation. A band separates the first and second floors and spans the interval between each pilaster strip.
The coupled pilaster strips terminate at the building’s apex in bracket capitals, with a deep stucco frieze running between them. A party wall with a chimney stack demarcates the historic subdivision of numbers 33 and 34 and separates the pitched roof into two sections, the roof to number 33 being higher than that at number 34 but of the same pitch.
The extensions to the west of 33 and 34 Market Place all have flat roofs with skylights and contain various south-facing window bays onto the Corn Exchange Arcade.
Formerly listed as Trustee Savings Bank.
