Summary
House with probable ground floor shop built in the mid-C18 and altered in the early-C20 for W H Smith and Son.
History
The town of Leominster traces its origins to the establishment of a religious house there during the C7 or earlier. The Saxon settlement endured repeated Viking raids and is recorded as a sizeable town in the Domesday Book (1086), with 27 households. In the early-C12, King Henry I established a Benedictine Priory in the town and granted a foundation charter for the town’s market. The town thrived throughout the later medieval period, despite periodic unrest due to its location in the border region. Leominster wool was prized across Europe and bestowed considerable wealth upon the town. The town centre retains many medieval and early-modern buildings; secular buildings are timber framed while surviving Priory buildings are constructed of local sandstone. The town centre retains an essentially medieval street pattern, with long, narrow burgage plots fronting the north-south spine road of Broad Street-High Street-South Street, and Corn Square (the historic market place) lying to the east of the High Street. The remains of the Priory, dissolved in 1539, lie to the north-east of the town centre. The town remained a prominent local centre into the C18 and C19. During this period, many timber-framed buildings were replaced (or refronted) by brick buildings with Classical elevations. Many houses in the town centre were partially converted to commercial use and equipped with shopfronts during the later C19 and C20.
1 South Street was constructed in the mid-C18, likely on the site of an earlier building. It was probably built as a house with commercial premises on the ground floor. The three-bay, three-storey wing to the east, fronting Corn Street, appears to be contemporary with the South Street range but may be a mid-to late-C18 addition. The building was remodelled in around 1925 by the newsagents W H Smith and Son, with the addition of a stone and timber shopfront. This comprised a curved corner element rising through the first and second floors with multi-paned windows and decorative lead panels with heraldic decoration, and a painted lead panel on the west elevation bearing the name ‘THE CORNER HOUSE’. Most of the original windows were replaced with horned sashes in the late-C19 or early-C20. In October 1940, the cellars of the shop were converted into a basement air raid shelter built to hold 66 people. The building is currently (2022) in commercial use on the ground and first floors. The ground-floor shop unit has been combined with that at 3 South Street.
Details
House with probable ground floor shop built in the mid-C18 and altered in the early-C20 for W H Smith and Son.
MATERIALS: the building is constructed of Flemish-bond brickwork painted white to the west and north elevations, with a timber, stone and glazed shopfront and curved corner element, with decorative lead panels. The roof covering is slate.
PLAN: the building is arranged on a rectangular plan with a shorter, primary frontage onto South Street to the west and a longer, secondary frontage onto Corn Street to the north.
EXTERIOR: the principal, west range is of three storeys across two bays onto South Street and three bays onto Corn Street under a hipped roof. A C20 brick chimney stack rises from the southern party wall with 3 South Street.
The ground-floor shopfront comprises a series of multi-paned, bow windows over a stone base, separated by plain pilasters and surmounted by a panelled fascia with nail head (pyramid-shaped) bosses and an ovolo moulded cornice. Within the curved bay at the north-west corner of the building, the fascia carries a sign with raised lettering reading ‘CIRCULATION LIBRARY’. Over this bay, the first and second floors have multi-paned, bow windows matching those of the ground floor, with lead panels beneath each window which are embossed and painted with heraldic motifs. The windows are flanked by plain timber pilasters, and the hipped roof projects out over the curved bay. The main entrance is centrally located on the west elevation and comprises a pair of half-glazed, panelled doors matching the design of the shopfront. Above, the first and second floors each carry a pair of timber sash windows with six-over-six glazing, with stucco cills and timber surrounds. Those on the first floor have segmental-arched heads, with the southern window possibly retaining the original sashes and moulded surround. There is a brick cill band between the first and second floors. On the second floor, the windows have flat-arched heads incorporated into a dentillated eaves course. Between the first-floor windows is a moulded and painted lead panel with heraldic motifs and raised lettering reading ‘THE CORNER HOUSE’.
The north elevation of the west range is plainer at first-and second-floor level. In the easternmost bay, there is a timber sash window on the first floor with eight-over-eight glazing and horns with a moulded surround and a segmental-arched head. Above, at second-floor level, there is a small, timber sash window with three-over-three glazing, horns and stucco cill and a flat-arched head. There is a brick cill band between the first and second floors, as on the west elevation.
The rear, east range fronting Corn Street is of three storeys across three bays and projects forward slightly from the principal, west range. The ground floor contains a C20, four-panelled door within a plain timber surround under a segmental-arched head, flanked by timber sash windows with segmental-arched heads and stucco cills. The larger, western window has six-over-six glazing, horns and a moulded timber surround, and sits flush with the facade, while the smaller, eastern window has four-over-four glazing, horns and a more simply moulded timber surround, and is recessed into the brickwork. All three openings are set close together within the two easternmost bays. Beneath the larger, western window is a blocked basement light with a segmental-arched head. Two brick cill bands divide the ground, first and second floors. The first and second floors each carry three timber sash windows, all with stucco cills except for the central, second-floor window. The two westernmost windows are set closer together on each floor, and the two outer windows on each floor are recessed into the façade while the central window is set flush with the brickwork within a moulded timber surround. In addition, the easternmost windows are narrower and four-over-four and two-over-two glazing on the first and second floors respectively. The four, wider windows to the west have six-over-six and three-over-three glazing on the first and second floor respectively. The first-floor windows have segmental-arched heads, while the second-floor windows have flat-arched heads. Immediately above the second-floor windows is a dentillated eaves course matching that of the principal, west range. There are iron ties beneath the cill of the central windows on the first and second floors.
