72-74 Bewsey Street

Summary

Early-C19 three-storey terrace houses with basements.

Reasons for Designation

Nos. 72 – 74 Bewsey Street, of early-C19 date are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: each house retains its early-C19 classic proportions with basement service areas and original architectural detailing including fenestration, internal window shutters to the ground-floor, and delicate fanlights over the front door;
* Group value: the interest of 72-74 Bewsey Street benefits from group value due to its proximity to other Grade II listed houses, in particular 1 Froghall Lane and 93 Bewsey Street;
* Historic interest: part of a terrace of middle-class houses, built during the late-C18 /early-C19 on one of the earliest residential streets on the outskirts of Warrington, to cater for the aspirations of the growing merchant classes.

History

72 and 74 Bewsey Street together with 1 Froghall Lane (Grade II) form part of a terrace of three early C19 town houses. The three properties were built on the corner of Froghall Lane and Bewsey Street; the precise date of construction has not been determined, but it is believed to be circa 1830 and 1840, as the houses are not shown on the 1826 Manorial Survey, but they are present on the 1851 Ordnance Survey 1:1,056 town map.

Between 1851 and 1888 further buildings were built along the south side of Bewsey Street, including Wycliffe School and No 70 which was later incorporated into the Revelation Shirt factory site which replaced the school and which is now occupied by housing.

Details

Early-C19 three-storey terrace houses with basements.

MATERIALS: fair-faced orange clamp brick construction, painted ashlar string course, lintels and cills, and a Welsh slate clad roof.

PLAN: rectangular plan with off-set extended projecting rectangular plan two-storey rear ranges.

EXTERIOR

Front Elevations: no.72 and 74 Bewsey Street have identical three-storey, two-bay, front elevations with basements. A straight join exists at the junction of No.72 and 74 Bewsey Street and the elevations are not keyed together. The basement windows of both houses have been bricked-up. The ground floor of each house has an off-set front doorway beneath a large glazed fanlight set within a round arch of rubbed brick. The four-panel timber front door is set in a recessed timber door frame with fluted panelled pilasters, which is flanked by a single twelve-light timber sash window with a painted ashlar cill and canted lintels. A painted continuous projecting ashlar string course crosses the elevation at first-floor level and forms a cill to the pair of twelve-light sash windows with plain painted ashlar canted lintels. The second floor of each house is lit by a pair of six-light sash windows with painted ashlar cills and canted lintels. The roof has a central ridge, is clad in Welsh slates and has cast-iron rain water goods mounted above timber facia boards. Wide brick-built chimney stacks are situated above the party walls of No.72 and 74 Bewsey Street, and No.74 Bewsey Street and No.1 Froghall Lane.

Rear elevations: the rear three-storey elevations of No.72 and 74 Bewsey Street were originally identical, with single twelve-light sash windows to the ground and first-floors, with a pair of windows to the second-floor. Both now have off-set, rectangular-plan, two-storey, two-bay rear ranges with mono-pitch Welsh slate roofs that occupy approximately two-thirds of the width of the rear elevation of each house.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

58748

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Wilson, John, Wilson's Combined Works Building Construction, Carpentry & Joinery, &c, (1906)
Yorke, Trevor, The Victorian House Explained, (2005)

Other
Conservation Area Appraisals: Bewsey Street, Warrington Borough Council, October 2007

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