22, 23 & 24 Station Street (St James's Place)

Summary

A row of three terraced houses of mid-C19 date that were built and used as part of Walsall's leather industry.

Reasons for Designation

22, 23 & 24 Station Street, Walsall are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural and historic interest:
* as good surviving examples of the beginning of the 'manufactory' stage of the Walsall leather industry, which developed after 1850;
* the basic arrangement of their interiors with lateral stairs and spine walls to each floor, and tunnel to the rear workshops and access lane, was a common feature of this building type associated with the Walsall leather industry;
* the buildings retain some good architectural detailing and are particularly illustrative of an important phase in the growth of Walsall.

History

The houses front the north-west side of Station Street facing towards the railway line as part of one long terrace, which was gradually built up after the arrival of the South Staffordshire Railway in 1847. The terrace is shown on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1887.

Many of the buildings along the street had a connection with leather working and 22-24 Station Street (which in part was once known as St James’s Place), may have been used as the residence of the factory owner or else as offices. In the 1880s, 22 is recorded as having been occupied by George H Jukes, boot upper manufacturer, with neighbouring buildings occupied by a saddlers’ ironmonger and a tin plate and metalworker. The polite, apparently domestic, appearance of this terrace masks a separate industrial range of workshops set to the rear and approached by pedestrians through a tunnel to each side with arched entrances to the façade. These features are common to several of the houses in the street and are shown on the 1887 map where the houses have a rear extension roughly half the width of the main building. Also shown to the rear of the terrace are detached long narrow structures, most likely leather workshops. Other industrial buildings stood on the land to the north and east. Some additions are shown to the workshops on the 1903 map and in the later C20 these buildings were much rebuilt and altered. In the C21 part of the workshops to the rear of 24 and 25 serve as a children’s nursery. Other parts serve as a metal finishing business.

Each of the 22-24 Station Street houses has been refurbished and adapted in the late C20 or early C21. 22 and 23 were still in use by the leather trade until the early C21, after which time some interior fittings were removed and in 2019 they stand vacant. 24 has offices to the ground floor and accommodation above.

Details

A row of three houses, part of a terrace of mid-C19 date.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with painted stone dressings and slate roofs.

PLAN: The houses are of three storeys and two-rooms deep. They have a lateral stair and single-brick wall and landing to each floor, dividing the front and rear of each building. The rears of the buildings have single-storey and two-storey ranges and there is a brick-paved covered passageway between 23 and 24.

EXTERIOR: to the façade, the ground floor is divided from the upper floors by a painted stone band and there is a cornice at eaves level. The first-floor windows each have brackets supporting a projecting lintel and the windows to 23 and 24 have a pedimental cresting. Set above the door to 24 is a painted tablet bearing the inscription "ST JAMES'S / PLACE." The second-floor windows all have brackets and stone sills. There are steel tie ends to the upper floors of 22 and 23. To the left of the door to 24 is a round-arched passage entrance leading to the separate workshops range at the rear (not included). The passageway has brick relieving arches to each end and to the centre. The buildings have six-panel front doors with rectangular fanlights, brackets, projecting and blocking courses. 22 has a canted bay window with steel bars and there is a C20 inserted plate glass shopfront to 24 Station Street. The houses have two steps to the front door, either engineering brick (22 and 23) or stone and concrete (24).

The rear has sash windows with stone sills and some C20 replacement fenestration. The rear brick range of 22 is at least partly of late-C20 date.

INTERIOR: 22 and 23 have been opened out internally and many fittings and plasterwork have been removed. There is a corbelled arch to the entrance hall, some ceiling cornices, moulded window reveals, sash windows with glazing bars and stair structures (based on photographic evidence). The ground floor of No 24 has a tiled floor to the passageway. The ground and first floors have cornices and plain fire surrounds to the rear rooms. The first-floor fireplace has a cast-iron grate.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

491896

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Boak Building & 8-20 Station Street, Walsall, West Midlands - An Architectural and Archaeological Analysis, R K Morriss, 2008
Ironbridge Institute Research Paper No 44, "The Identification and Evaluation of Surviving Sites Associated with the Leather and Allied Trades", 1993.

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