No. 28 Britton Street

No. 28, BRITTON STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

No. 28 Britton Street is an early-C18 terraced town house, now in office use. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1204945
Date first listed:: 29-Sep-1972
List Entry Name:: No. 28 Britton Street
Statutory Address:: No. 28, BRITTON STREET

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Date:: 2001-05-22
Reference:: IOE01/03771/10
Rights:: © Peter Fuller. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1204945
Date first listed:: 29-Sep-1972
Date of most recent amendment:: 12-Apr-2013
List Entry Name:: No. 28 Britton Street
Statutory Address 1:: No. 28, BRITTON STREET

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: No. 28, BRITTON STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: Islington (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ3164881966

Summary

No. 28 Britton Street is an early-C18 terraced town house, now in office use.

Reasons for Designation

No. 28 Britton Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reason: * Architectural and historic interest: constructed as a town house in 1722, the building retains key elements of its historic form, character and fabric.

History

Britton Street was laid out and built up between 1718 and 1724, replacing gardens and small houses on the backlands of Turnmill Street and St John's Lane. It was originally called Red Lion Street, after a tavern at the top end where it met Clerkenwell Green, and was renamed in 1937 after the antiquary John Britton. No. 28 was one of an original row of four houses built in 1722.

Initially the northern half of the street became established as one of the best residential addresses in Clerkenwell, but by the latter part of the C18 most of the houses were in the occupation of craftsmen and tradesmen, particularly clock and watchmakers and cabinet makers; several of the surviving old houses have attic 'watchmaker' windows, including No. 28 (although this has been rebuilt). During the C19 the street became densely populated with small-scale manufacturers, and whilst suffering the problems of overcrowding and poverty, it was also a thriving commercial area, and remained so until the Second World War.

In 1991, No. 28 underwent substantial repair and restoration following a fire.

Details

MATERIALS: the front facade is of red-brown brick laid in Flemish bond with red brick dressings and gauged flat window arches; windows are late-C20 six-over-six-light sliding sashes with horns. The building is rendered at ground floor with a C19-style shop window. It is thought that all external joinery is late-C20 replication of pre-existing joinery.

PLAN: the building has two bays and three storeys with a basement and garret; the roof is double-pitched with a valley gutter running parallel to the road. The original C18 floor-plan remains: a ground-floor entrance hall, with dog-leg stair to the rear along the right-hand party wall, and a front and back room to each floor. At basement and upper-ground-floor level the building inter-connects with a modern extension which occupies the full depth of the plot.

EXTERIOR: the entrance is to the right and comprises a six-panel door set between pilasters. A fascia and cornice run across the frontage and to the left of the door is a C19-style shop window. First- and second-floor windows are set almost flush with the wall. The garret room is continuously glazed with side-hung timber casement windows. INTERIOR: the interior of No. 28 presents as one of the early C18, both in terms of layout and appearance: rooms are lined in full-height unmoulded wall panelling; front rooms have fireplaces in the party wall, and backrooms have corner fireplaces; the stairs have turned vase balusters with a moulded handrail and closed string. It is believed that some of the panelling is original, providing the pattern for the rest of the panelling throughout the building. The staircase includes original newel posts, handrails, and some balusters, but a number of the latter are modern reproductions.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 368584
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Websites
Survey of London: volume 46: South and East Clerkenwell. Chapter IV: Britton Street Area, accessed from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=119416#s10
Other
Photograph of Nos 27 and 28 Britton Street, English Heritage's London pre-1946 photographic collection, held at Waterhouse Square,

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.