55 Westgate Street

Summary

Formerly a medieval merchant's house, now a shop and dwelling. It dates possibly to the C15 and has a C17 rear wing. The building was re-fronted and other alterations performed in the mid- to late C18 and further altered in the C20 and C21.

Reasons for Designation

55 Westgate Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an example of a merchant's townhouse that has its origins probably in the C15 and as a building which retains historic fabric dating from various phases of refurbishment and alteration.

Historic interest:

* for its contribution to our understanding of the development of domestic architecture in Gloucester from the medieval period onwards.

History

In the late C14, Gloucester’s trade industry – principally in corn and wine – enriched a small but influential group of merchants who monopolised official positions of the City. By the early C17 merchants were displaying their prosperity in new or enlarged houses located within the central parishes. Their proximity to the focus of communal life and centre of the borough administration was an added benefit. A few notable examples of these merchant’s houses survive along Westgate Street as testaments to the area’s trading activity and the prominence of these wealthy officeholders throughout the late medieval and early modern periods.

Details

Formerly a medieval merchant's house, now a shop and dwelling. It dates possibly to the C15 and has a C17 rear wing. The building was re-fronted along with other alterations in the mid- to late C18 and further altered in the C20 and C21.

MATERIALS: the structure is an encapsulated timber frame, rendered to the sides and rear. There is an ashlar-walled cellar, a stuccoed brick front, and slate roof with a hipped dormer and a tall brick stack.

PLAN: a double-depth block, with parallel pitched roofs and an end-gabled C17 wing at the rear. The front left corner of the rear wing has a mortice for a horizontal rail, possibly indicating the position of a former gallery connecting the front and rear blocks.

EXTERIOR: three storeys with an attic and cellar. The rear wing is two storeys. The principal elevation includes a C20 shopfront with C19 fascia on the end brackets. The upper floors are of two bays with a string course at the first-floor window sill level a crowning cornice with close-set modillions and a parapet above. On each of the upper floors, there are two plain horned sash windows of similar size, in plain openings, with projecting sills on the second floor. The roof dormer has a pair of plain casements.

INTERIOR: in the cellar, the side walls are in ashlar, with vestiges of stone springers to a former barrel vault replaced by a timber floor. Within the shop, there are exposed lateral bridging beams and an early-C19 dog-leg staircase with winders at the turns and a stick balustrade. On the second floor is a C18 two-panel door. The alignments of walls and floors indicate timber framing concealed by later linings.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

472631

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Herbert, NM, A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume IV, The City of Gloucester, (1988), 35-84

End of official list entry

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