11 and 12 Gun Street

Summary

An early-C19 house or pair of houses with modern shopfront, now arranged as apartments.

Reasons for Designation

11 and 12 Gun Street, an early-C19 house or pair of houses, in commercial and residential use in 2023, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

*     as an early-C19 building which contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Historic interest:

*     as part of the urban development of Reading’s ancient core.

Group value:

*     the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.

History

The crossroads formed by the north-south route of St Mary’s Butts/Bridge Street and the east-west route of Gun Street/Castle Street is believed to be the centre of the original Saxon settlement at Reading, established sometime before the ninth century, with the lowest crossing point of the River Kennet lying a short distance away to the south.

Reading was well-established by the time of the Norman Conquest, and the Domesday Book (1086) records six mills and a large estate in the town. The Church of St Mary, which lies on the north-east corner of the crossroads and was mostly rebuilt in 1551-1555, was the town’s primary church until the establishment of Reading Abbey in the C12 and became so again following the dissolution in the late 1530s.

Running east from the crossroads, Gun Street forms part of the ancient route through the town between London and the West Country. The name derives from the gunsmiths who are known to have been operating in Reading from at least the early C17. John Speed’s Map of Redding (1611) depicts both sides of the road as densely developed. In around 1816 the buildings on the north side were demolished and the churchyard of St Mary’s was enclosed with a boundary wall. Most earlier buildings were gradually replaced during the C18 and C19 with townhouses constructed of silver-grey and red brick, following the local vernacular. Many of the buildings were originally constructed as houses but were converted to commercial use at ground-floor level during the C19 and C20.

11 and 12 Gun Street were constructed during the early C19, probably on the site of an earlier building. Originally built as a house or pair of houses, the building was converted to commercial use on the ground floor during the mid to late C19. During the late C20, a three-storey, brick building with a linking wing was built to the rear. The windows on the first and second floor of the front elevation have been replaced with uPVC casements. The ground floor is currently (2023) in commercial use with the rear and upper floors in use as apartments.

Details

An early-C19 house or pair of houses with modern shopfront, now arranged as apartments.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick, under a slate roof.

PLAN: entered off the street into a shop to the right side and a door on the left side, giving access to apartments within and to the rear.

EXTERIOR: the building is of three storeys plus basement, across three bays and the brick walls are laid in Flemish bond. The ground floor has been partially rebuilt and has a modern plate glass shopfront and a C20, inset doorway under a segmental arch. Above and between the left and central bays, there is a series of shallow, brick piers and brackets, which carry three courses of corbelled brickwork.

The first and second floors each have three recessed window openings with flat-arch window heads in gauged brickwork and stucco cills. All have uPVC casements resembling six over six sash windows. Above the second-floor windows, there is a stucco cornice and a parapet which appears to be coped in lead.

The side and rear walls have been rebuilt in red brick laid in header bond. The rear elevation has a single window to the first and second floors.

The roof is M-shaped, with two hipped slopes forming a central valley running perpendicular to Gun Street.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

38968

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, Tyack, G, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (2010), 438-440

Websites
Reading Borough Council History of Reading (2012), accessed 24 September 2023 from https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/470945/172974/13/100765
Victoria County History - Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, A History of the County of Berkshire Volume 3 (1923) pp 336-342, accessed 24 September 2023 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3
St Mary’s Butts and Castle Street Audio Trail, accessed 21 November 2023 from https://www.reading.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/heritage-and-conservation/readings-high-street-heritage-action-zone/community-engagement/reading-audio-trails/st-marys-butts-and-castle-street/

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