Summary
Pair of houses built in the late C18 with early C19 and late C20 alterations, now used as a doctors’ surgery.
Reasons for Designation
8 and 9 North Brink, a pair of houses built in the late C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: it is a good example of a late-Georgian townhouse that retains original front doors and fanlights, along with some internal features;
* Historic interest: it forms a significant element in one of the finest and best preserved Georgian thoroughfares in the country;
* Group value: the majority of the buildings along North and South Brink are listed, many at high grade, and 8 and 9 North Brink therefore has strong group value with numerous designated assets.
History
The Fenland town of Wisbech stands on the River Nene and grew in the Middle Ages as an inland port and market town. In the C17 the inhabitants resisted the draining of the Fens but this resulted in the town becoming a prosperous port. On either side of the river at the west end of the town are the North and South Brink, two well-preserved Georgian streets of merchants’ houses and warehouses, including the notable Peckover House which is now owned by the National Trust. The town has two market places and a sophisticated planned development called The Crescent which was built on the site of the castle in the late C18. Trade continued to flourish, especially after the Nene outfall to the Wash was improved with a new channel in 1827-30, and shipbuilding brought further wealth to the town.
8 and 9 North Brink were built as a pair of three-storey houses in the late C18. The façade was altered in the early C19 by the addition of a fourth storey and two matching three-storey segmental bay windows. These were rebuilt in the late 1960s, at which time the building was in use as a private dwelling and offices. In 1969 it was reconfigured to create two maisonettes, and the following year one of the maisonettes was used as a surgery by the doctors’ practice at the adjacent 7 North Brink. In the late 1980s alterations were carried out to Nos. 7, 8 and 9, including the opening up of the wall in the hall area to allow ground-floor access between the two buildings. In the early 1990s further alterations were carried out to No. 8 to form waiting rooms.
Details
Pair of houses built in the late C18 with early-C19 and late-C20 alterations, now used as a doctors’ surgery.
MATERIALS: brown brick with brick dressings and slate-clad roof.
PLAN: the building is located in a terrace along the north shore of the River Nene. It is rectangular on plan and there is a rear lean-to extension to No. 8.
EXTERIOR: the symmetrical two-bay houses have four storeys and a basement, and a plain parapet. The inner bays are dominated by rebuilt bow windows which rise through three storeys and have moulded cornices and C20 twelve-over-twelve pane sash windows with gauged red brick arches. Above these are three-over-three pane sashes. The matching entrances have recessed four-panelled doors, round-headed fanlights with radial glazing bars, and doorcases with fluted pilasters and reveals and corner blocks. The windows at each floor above the entrances are blank: those to the first and second floors give the appearance of being six-over-six pane sashes, and those on the top floor are three-over-three pane sashes. The subsidiary rear elevation is lit by C20 three-over-three pane sash windows with flat brick arches, and there is a C20 door to No. 9.
INTERIOR: this has been extensively remodelled and retains little of its original plan form. None of the original joinery, fixtures or fittings has survived with the exception of the kitchen range in the basement of No. 9 and the principal open well stair which is located at the end of the long narrow entrance corridor. This has an open string with carved tread ends, two stick balusters per tread, slender round newel posts and a mahogany handrail that terminates in a curtail.
