The Waterfront Museum
THE WATERFRONT MUSEUM, 4, HIGH STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1275391
- Date first listed:
- 28-May-1974
- List Entry Name:
- The Waterfront Museum
- Statutory Address:
- THE WATERFRONT MUSEUM, 4, HIGH STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-10-09
- Reference:
- IOE01/09278/19
- Rights:
- © Mr Ron Holmes. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1275391
- Date first listed:
- 28-May-1974
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 18-May-2010
- List Entry Name:
- The Waterfront Museum
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE WATERFRONT MUSEUM, 4, HIGH STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- THE WATERFRONT MUSEUM, 4, HIGH STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Poole
- National Grid Reference:
- SZ 00885 90323
Details
POOLE
958-1/17/138 HIGH STREET 28-MAY-1974 (North side) 4 The Waterfront Museum (Formerly listed as: PARADISE STREET WAREHOUSE TO EAST OF THE TOWN CELLAR) (Formerly listed as: PARADISE STREET WAREHOUSE (ADJOINING THE TOWN CELLAR T O THE EAST))
GV II Former corn warehouse, now museum. Early-C19 date, extended and heightened in the late C19. Further alterations in the early C21.
MATERIALS: English bond brickwork with a slate roof. PLAN: It is rectangular on plan. The late-C19 range of five-storeys encases the east end of an earlier building of three and four-storeys.
EXTERIOR: The south-east front, faces onto Paradise Street. It is a near symmetrical, seven -window range that is angled at the central bay. There are blind ground and first floor windows; the openings have cambered heads and boarded shutters. There are hoist bays to the third and sixth bays from the left, with ashlar pillows to the strap hinges and double doors, the left-hand one rising to a gabled lucarne. The left-hand gable has two centrally-placed openings. The Sarum Street front (north-west) has a 2:2:6-window range with segmental-arched openings, the latter including a hoist bay with gabled lucarne in the second bay from the left. A glass and steel atrium has been added to the north-east gable end in the early C21 to provide a new entrance.
INTERIOR: (not inspected, 2010) The floors are supported by timber beams and posts.
HISTORY: During the C12 to C14, Poole developed into a very prosperous town as a result of overseas trade. A Royal Charter of 1433 established Poole as a staple port which gave it the authority to collect customs duties on behalf of the King. From the late C17, until its decline in the mid-C19, the port established strong trade links with Europe, the Baltic and North America. This former warehouse on Paradise Street is situated close to The Quay and is of C19 date. It was probably used for corn or grain storage.
SOURCES: Royal Commission on Historic Buildings and Monuments of England (RCHME), County of Dorset - South East (1970), 204 & 233 May,V., The Influence of the Sea, Dorset Coast Digital Archive http://www.dcda.org.uk/2-4influence/3detailed.html Accessed on 26th March 2010
REASON FOR DESIGNATION: This former warehouse, now the Waterfront Museum, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architecture: an imposing, if altered quayside building which retains original features such as loading doors, shutters, lucarnes surviving * Historic: it is an important survival reflecting the significance of warehousing and trade to the town which continued through into the C19 * Group value: it forms part of a large group of listed buildings clustered together in the old town of Poole, built alongside the harbour to serve its working population
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 412574
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 22:13:23.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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