74, HIGH STREET
74, HIGH STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1390746
- Date first listed:
- 24-May-2004
- List Entry Name:
- 74, HIGH STREET
- Statutory Address:
- 74, HIGH STREET
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1390746
- Date first listed:
- 24-May-2004
- List Entry Name:
- 74, HIGH STREET
- Statutory Address 1:
- 74, HIGH STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- 74, HIGH STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- Three Rivers (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Batchworth
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 05954 94478
Details
474/0/10024 HIGH STREET 24-MAY-04 74
GV II Shop with offices and newspaper distribution room. C.1927. A.H.Lister and F.C.Bayliss. Plum, English bond brick with plain tiled roof. Three storeys. EXTERIOR: The street front has 2 bays to the first and second floors with 3-light mullioned and transomed casements to the first floor and similar mullioned windows above. There are 2 gables with substantial, decorated, rectangular rainwater heads to the centre and sides. The ground floor has a half glazed door to right with a rectangular fanlight, which leads to the offices. The rest of the ground floor is taken up by a symmetrical shop front. To the centre are 2 late-C20 glazed doors which are doubly recessed. To either side are show windows with Cotswold stone risers and timber mullions [also recessed] and to the far right and left and flush with the building line are 2 pier cases. These have their original chamfered floors with the illustrator R.P.Glossop's egg logo in brass featuring the initials WHS, and to their tops are panels of decorative tiles showing in words and images the subject matter of the books inside; SPORTS/BOOKS, MAPS &/GUIDES, CHILDREN'S/TOY BOOKS [at the time of survey, 2004, partially and most unfortunately covered by a plastic burglar alarm box] and TRAVEL/BOOKS. The rear has two cross windows at first floor level to the left and a 3-light window at right. To the second floor are hipped semi-dormers at right and left, that to the left with a fire escape door. At ground floor level the shop floor projects to join with an earlier outhouse which has a blocked arch at left, a 3-light window and double doors at right. INTERIOR: The shop floor level has encased steel beams to the ceiling. The roof lights at the rear of the shop which are shown in the architects' drawings have been removed. At first and second floor level the fittings shown in the architects' drawings are in situ, with the exception of the fire surrounds.
A good example of the quality of design and shop fittings produced for this company; the building and, most particularly the decorative shop front, remain in a very complete state of preservation. Kathryn A.Morrison, author of "English Shops and Shopping", Yale, 2003, regards this as one of perhaps half a dozen shops in the W.H.Smith chain to have survived in such a complete state and to show such quality.
SOURCE: Kathryn A. Morrison, "English Shops and Shopping", Yale, 2003.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 491305
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Morrison, K, English Shops and Shopping An Architectural History, (2003)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 19-Jun-2026 at 16:36:27.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.