1 and 2 Market Place

Summary

Former bank, now hotel and restaurant. Built in around the 1870s and extended in the late C19.

Reasons for Designation

1-2 Market Place is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

*     as a former bank of about the 1870s that is richly embellished with classical detailing and ornament, 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 a reference to a battle recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 871. 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. Following significant upheaval during the Civil War, the town flourished during the C18 and C19 and several developments spurred its growth, including the arrival of the Great Western Railway, improvements to the navigability of the River Kennet, and the growth of the local brewing industry.

1-2 Market Place was built in around the 1870s as a banking house for Stephens Blandy and Co Bankers. The building originally consisted of three bays, and was adjoined to the south by the two-bay west elevation of the Broadface Hotel. However, by the late C19, the hotel’s western range had been taken over by the bank and rebuilt in the same style, adding two more bays to the bank’s principal west façade. The Broadface Hotel moved to a site behind the bank, bordering it on its east elevation. Lloyds took over the banking house in 1899. The hotel was demolished and replaced with a new building to the rear of the banking hall in the mid-C20. In 2016, Lloyds moved out of the property and the building was subsequently converted into a hotel and restaurant, which it currently (2023) remains. The flat roof space over the fourth and fifth bays of the building was converted into a rooftop terrace.

Details

Former bank, now hotel and restaurant. Built in around the 1870s and extended in the late C19.

MATERIALS: the ground floor of the street-facing elevation has ashlar masonry and polished pink and black granite dressings. The upper floors are of red brick. There are slate-covered roofs.

PLAN: a four-storey building, originally with a banking hall to the ground floor and offices above but now utilised as a restaurant and hotel.

EXTERIOR: the main, west street-facing elevation is five bays wide and three-storeys high with an additional attic storey to the northern three bays. It is richly embellished with classical detailing and ornament. The ground floor is of ashlar masonry with each bay separated by rusticated pilasters resting on a plinth and pedestals and supporting an entablature with a plain freeze and dentilled cornice. It comprises, from left to right: the main entrance with an elaborate granite doorcase; paired plate-glass windows separated by an engaged granite column; two further plate glass windows; and a round-arched entrance to a service passage with decorative wrought ironwork set within the arch and carrying the letters LLOYDS BANK CHAMBERS. The doorcase to the main entrance has a moulded black granite rounded arch of two orders resting on pilasters and framed by a pink granite architrave with reeded pilasters supporting an entablature with a plain frieze, dentilled cornice and richly-carved segmental pediment. The upper floors are of high-quality red brick with much decorative carving. Moulded pilasters rise through the first and second floors, separating each bay and supporting an entablature with a plain frieze and elaborate modillion cornice. There is a similar arrangement of windows to each floor with tripartite one-over-one sash windows to the first, third and fifth bays, paired one-over-one sashes to the second bay and single sashes to the fourth bay. The first-floor windows are each set in a carved brick architrave and have an entablature enriched with foliate carving. The paired windows to the second bay are separated by an elaborately carved pilaster. The second-floor windows are also set within architraves but do not have an entablature except for the paired sashes to the second bay which are decorated with a swan-neck pediment above ornamental swags. This bay rises above the rest with an attic storey that has a Diocletian window, moulded pilasters and triangular pediment; the attic storey to the flanking bays is set well back behind iron railings and cannot be seen from the street.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

39071

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Coates, C, Map of Reading (1802)
OS maps (1:2500): 1934 and 1879
Goad Fire Insurance Maps of Reading, Sheet 10 (1895)
Rocque, John, Map of Berkshire (1761)
Tyack, Geoffrey, Bradley, Simon, Pevsner, Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: Berkshire (2010), 466
Ditchfield, P H, and Page, W, A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp.336-342, accessed 5 April 2022 from https://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3
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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