34 and 36, Sun Street

Summary

Pair of terraced houses, probably built in the mid-C18 and extended to the rear in the C19, altered in around 1998.

Reasons for Designation

34 and 36 Sun Street, probably built in the mid-C18 and extended to the rear in the early or mid-C19, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the survival of a significant proportion of historic timber framing and the historic plan form;
* for the survival of the mid-C18 joinery, including panelled doors and door surrounds to Sun Street.

Historic interest:

* as one of the few surviving historic buildings characterising the streetscape of Sun Street.

History

34 and 36 Sun Street were probably built in the mid-C18 and extended to the rear in the early or mid-C19. Sun Street provided a bypass around the north-east side of Biggleswade. 34 and 36 Sun Street are shown on Ordnance Survey (OS) maps published in 1884, 1901 and 1926 as part of a terrace with a carriage arch to the north-west side of number 34. An aerial photograph taken in 1929 shows the houses from the rear, with a long catslide roof.

The Rising Sun public house was added to the south-east gable of number 36 in 1836; the public house was demolished around 2009 and replaced by a two-and-half-storey apartment building.

34 and 36 Sun Street were listed at Grade II on 7 December 1978 in recognition of their special architectural and historic interest. Listed Building Consent was granted for alteration and refurbishment in 1998 (MB/98/00669/LB).

Details

Pair of terraced houses, probably built in the mid-C18 and extended to the rear in the C19, altered in around 1998.

PLAN: 34 and 36 Sun Street are rectangular on plan, facing north-east to Sun Street. The two houses interlock on plan, the rear of number 34 being wider than number 36.

EXTERIOR: The terraced pair of houses are two-and-half-storeys in height and two bays wide on the front (north-east) elevation, each house having a door towards the centre and a single bay of windows to the outside. The pitched roof has a slate covering (replaced around 1999), a shed dormer to each attic, and an internal chimneystack to each gable end; that over number 36 was extended around 2009. The walls are roughcast. The single bays of windows on the front elevation are flat-arched, and each comprises a pair of side-hung casements to the attic dormer and to the first floor, and a pair of top-hung casements to the ground floor; all windows were replaced on a like-for-like basis in 1999, and scrolled window furniture was re-used. The front doors each have a mid-C18 classical door surround (restored around 1999) comprising an open pediment with a Doric entablature supported by carved brackets, a fluted architrave and a six-panelled door. The north-west gable of number 34 has a side-hung casement stair window (replaced around 1999). The rear elevation has a catslide roof over the C19 rear extensions, each house having an attic rooflight and a box dormer to the first-floor bathroom, both introduced around 1999. The rear windows are all side-hung casements (replaced around 1999). Both back doors were replaced around 1999.

INTERIOR: The interior of each house has a single room on the ground floor of the C18 building and a kitchen in the rear extension. The ground-floor sitting room has a gently chamfered transverse beam, a rebuilt brick fire surround on the gable end, and a cupboard to the north side of the fireplace. The interior of the door of number 36 retains C18 L-hinges. Each house retains a cupboard on the party wall with tongue and groove panelling over. A stair rises from the south side of the internal chimneystack to the first floor; a stair window was introduced on the gable end of number 34, probably in the mid- to late C20, when the adjoining building to the west was demolished. The gable end of number 36 was rebuilt, probably around 2009, when the neighbouring building to the east was built. The first floor of each house was partitioned in the mid-C20 to provide a corridor, a bedroom with a borrowed light from the corridor, and a bathroom to the rear, extended with a box dormer around 1999. In number 36, the first-floor corridor retains two cupboards to the side of the chimneystack, each cupboard retaining L-hinges. The timber rail and wall plate are visible in each house in the first-floor bedroom and bathroom to the rear, and may indicate that the building was originally one-and-a-half storeys in height. From the first-floor corridor, a stair rises along the north side of the chimneystack to an attic room. The purlin in each attic is exposed to the interior and was cut when a dormer was introduced to the front slope, and a catslide roof and rooflight were introduced to the rear slope. The ground floor rear extension of number 34 was reconfigured in 2002 to provide a kitchen, dining room and WC.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

37496

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Britain from Above, ‘EPW026449 ENGLAND (1929). St John's Street and environs, Biggleswade, 1929’, accessed 17 February 2026 from https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW026449

Other
Ordnance Survey maps published 1884, 1901 and 1926

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