Summary
88 London Street, a C16 house, remodelled and re-fronted in the early C18, with a C19 shopfront.
Reasons for Designation
88 London Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* as part of the urban development of Reading’s ancient core, and as a rare survivor of Reading's pre-industrial urban development.
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 Reading had grown into a town, 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.
After Reading Abbey was founded in 1121, the town grew substantially as a place of pilgrimage as well as an important ecclesiastical and trading centre, with cloth production as the principal industry. Reading’s increasing prosperity saw the establishment of the new Market Place (drawing trade away from the old marketplace at St Mary’s Butts), and of what is today known as London Street, an extension to the High Street, which facilitated trade to and from London. By 1525, Reading had become the largest town in Berkshire. Following its dissolution in 1539, Reading Abbey became a royal palace. The cloth and leather trades continued to flourish and by 1611 the town’s population had grown to over 5,000. John Speed’s map shows that by that year, 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, improvements to the navigability of the River Kennet, and the expansion of the local brewing industry. The survival of many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings along London Street testifies to its prosperity during this period.
88 London Street was constructed in the C16 and re-fronted in the early- to mid-C18. Prior to its reconstruction, the east elevation probably jettied over London Street as it currently is over Church Street to the south. The roof is of half-hipped form, with a single slope abutting the C18 neighbouring building, number 86, suggesting number 88 may originally have extended further north. A shopfront was built into the east elevation of the ground floor of number 88 in the mid-C19, at which time it appears a door opening on the south elevation to Church Street was infilled with brick. By 1879, a small extension had been built to the northern section of the rear, west elevation; this was replaced at some time after 1931. It is understood that a connecting doorway between numbers 86 and 88 was constructed in the early C21, which was removed around 2015. The building is currently (2023) in residential use.
Details
House, C16, remodelled and re-fronted in the early C18, with a C19 shopfront.
MATERIALS: timber frame, re-fronted in brick, now painted. The south elevation is brick infill to the ground floor, rendered above. The upper part of the rear elevation is clad in modern weatherboarding. The roof is covered with historic plain clay tiles.
PLAN: the building is arranged over two storeys with attic and basement. The original building is rectangular on plan, and there is three-storey extension to the north-west. The building’s shorter gable end faces east to London Street, whilst its longer south elevation runs parallel to Church Street.
EXTERIOR: the ground floor of the street-facing, east elevation is occupied by a mid-C19 timber shopfront with a doorway to the south. Both the shop window and the doorway are flanked by full-height pilaster strips supporting a plain fascia and dentil cornice. The window contains late-C20 or early-C20 glazing in two sections, above a C19 timber stallriser; below is a basement well grating. The east elevation at first-floor level contains two bays windows with segmental-arched heads of gauged brick, containing eight-over-eight horned sash frames. The attic has a similar but smaller window, with three-over six sash frames. Above, the parapet slopes upwards to the south, following the line of the hip behind, and remains horizontal to the north. The ground floor of the south elevation onto Church Street is largely brick laid in irregular stretcher bond, with an infilled doorway and window opening. Above is the rendered first floor which jetties over Church Street, the western section of which contains two small window openings with metal casement frames. There is a dragon beam to the south-east corner of the jetty. The roof form is a single north-south slope with a half-hipped slope to the east and west. Two window openings remain visible in the rear, west elevation of the original building; this, together with the whole of the rear extension, is clad in weatherboarding above ground-floor level.
INTERIOR: it is understood that there is an altered turned-baluster staircase, whilst the cellar had a fragment of stone, possibly medieval, with a chevron carved on it.
