Summary
90 London Street, a house, thought originally to have been a pair of houses, constructed in the mid-C18; a shopfront was added in the mid-C19. Partially rebuilt and extended to the rear in the later C20.
Reasons for Designation
90 London Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a mid-C18 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 first written record of Reading dates from the ninth century when the name seems to have referred to a tribe, called Reada’s people. It is possible that there was a river port here during the Roman occupation, and by 1086 Reading had grown into a town, recorded in the Domesday Book. The early Anglo-Saxon settlement is believed to have been located in the Castle Street and St Mary’s area, which has St Mary’s Minster at its heart.
After Reading Abbey was founded in 1121, the town grew substantially as a place of pilgrimage as well as an important ecclesiastical and trading centre, with cloth production as the principal industry. Reading’s increasing prosperity saw the establishment of the new Market Place (drawing trade away from the old marketplace at St Mary’s Butts), and of what is today known as London Street, an extension to the High Street, which facilitated trade to and from London. By 1525, Reading had become the largest town in Berkshire. Following its dissolution in 1539, Reading Abbey became a royal palace. The cloth and leather trades continued to flourish and by 1611 the town’s population had grown to over 5,000. John Speed’s map shows that by that year, both sides of London Street had been developed with continuous frontages for a considerable distance southward, beyond the modern junction with Crown Street/London Road. Several buildings which predate Speed’s map survive on London Street, some concealed behind later brick façades.
Following significant upheaval during the Civil War, the town flourished during the C18 and C19. Several developments during this period spurred further growth and prosperity, including the arrival of the Great Western Railway, improvements to the navigability of the River Kennet, and the expansion of the local brewing industry. The survival of many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings along London Street testifies to its prosperity during this period.
90 London Street was constructed in the mid-C18. The pairing of the first-floor fenestration appears to indicate that the site originally comprised a pair of townhouses before being combined into one at some time before the survey made for the Ordnance Survey map published in 1879. A shopfront was added to the London Street elevation in the mid-C19. By 1879 the building had a number of additional structures to the rear, understood to have included a C17 cottage; map evidence suggests this cottage was in a ruinous condition by 1958 and demolished by 1969. In the later C20, the building’s rear elevation was reconstructed and extensions of one and three storeys were added. It is not known whether the reconstruction extended into the footprint of the C18 building. Today (2023) the building is in use as office space.
Details
House, thought originally to have been a pair of houses, constructed in the mid-C18; shopfront added in the mid-C19. Partially rebuilt and extended to the rear in the later C20.
MATERIALS: grey brick laid in header bond with red-brick dressings, the ground floor rendered and painted. The paired hipped roofs are covered with plain tiles. The later-C20 rear (west) elevations are of machine-cut red brick.
PLAN: the original building is roughly square on plan, arranged over three storeys with cellar. The rear extensions appear to be of a single phase, of varying heights, creating a larger rectangular footprint.
EXTERIOR: on the principal, eastern elevation, the entrance to the south dates from the mid-C19: a round-headed recessed opening with a circle and tear-drop fanlight over a replacement panelled door, the door approached by steps. The shopfront is also of mid-C19 date with a multi-paned window, flanked by shallow pilasters with corbel brackets and a lead-coped flat hood. The northern half of the east elevation is occupied at ground-floor level by two windows. Above, the four windows per storey are arranged in pairs, with a brick string course between the storeys. The windows have flat arches of gauged brick, and exposed sash frames set flush with the frontage, now containing replacement multi-pane horned frames. The frontage has a moulded brick dentil cornice, above which the parapet is laid in Flemish bond with red stretchers and grey headers; the two hipped ridges appear above the parapet. The north-east corner of the building is chamfered. The north elevation to Church Street is of red brick laid in Flemish bond with grey headers above a rendered plinth. The rear section of the elevation is lower, beneath the roof curb, with a multi-pane casement window to the ground and first floor.
