Summary
Former butcher’s shop, 1904.
Reasons for Designation
The Former Butcher’s Shop, 157 Arthur Road, 1904, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: once a common high-street shop, butchers are becoming increasingly rare survivals of a traditional commercial building type;
* Architectural interest: a good-quality shop front and interior typical of the building type, and which retains the principal characteristic features of a butcher’s shop;
* Decorative scheme: the tiling to the exterior and interior of the shop, geometric paving and scrolled wrought-iron brackets are attractive and good-quality remnants of a comprehensive decorative scheme;
* Intactness: a shop dating from the early C20 that retains an original frontage and much of its decorative scheme is an unusual survival, and despite changes to the interior the function of the business remains legible.
History
The Wimbledon Park Estate was a speculative development for Ryan and Penfold in the early C20. The provision of amenities was part of the plan, and the parade of nine shops was built in 1904. The butcher’s decorative scheme and fittings date from the early C20, and was almost certainly installed at the time the shopping parade was built.
The shop ceased trading in 2014 and many fixtures related to the business have been removed.
Details
Former butcher’s shop, 1904.
PLAN: Orientated roughly north to south with the front facing south onto Arthur Road, the mid-terrace building has a rectangular plan with the shop occupying the ground floor and associated storage facilities in the basement. It is two rooms deep with a stair along the west party wall and a projection to the rear. The residential accommodation on the upper two floors is excluded from the listing*.
EXTERIOR: Like the other buildings on the parade, the shop front is framed by pilasters with light and dark green ceramic tiles decorated with an Art Nouveau pattern; these terminate in heavy consoles, with a fascia in between. The façade is stepped back from the building line, and black and white geometric tiles pave the front. The return walls and the plinth have green and white ceramic tiles with a sinuous, Art Nouveau style tree motif, and narrow brown tiles form the borders to panels of chequered tiles. There is a large one-over-one pane sliding sash window in the centre of the facade between the doorways to either side; it has brass handles and a marble cill. Across the top of the window is a solid strip bearing the former butcher’s name ' W A Gardner & Son'. The entrance into the shop has two narrow, half-glazed doors with a tall single light and a fielded panel below; there is a plain rectangular overlight. On the left is a modern timber door with a plain overlight.
The upper floors have two bays separated by giant pilasters. Each bay of the first floor has a pair of windows with moulded stone architraves beneath a moulded segmental pediment. Windows are uPVC replacements that follow the pattern of the original eight-over-one pane sliding sashes. There are stone storey courses and a cornice, all of which are painted. The elevation rises to a straight parapet with stone copings.
The rear is exposed brown stock brick, openings have red brick arches. The original sashes remain on the ground floor. The basement openings have been modified to house air conditioning facilities.
INTERIOR: The original shop was in the front room of the ground floor; it has been enlarged by opening up the wall to the rear room. Notable historic features are limited to the front, which is covered from floor to ceiling in the same green, white and brown tiles as on the façade, laid in decorative chequered panels with a brown dado rail and a tiled frieze with swags and green borders. Tiles are missing in some places and there are some replacements. The ceiling is matchboarded, and there are scrolled, wrought iron brackets carrying a rail for hanging meat; two brackets at the rear have been truncated to accommodate the enlarged opening in the wall. The floor is covered in large green terrazzo tiles set on plywood boarding. All counters, benches and fixtures related to the business of butchery have been removed. The rear room is covered in modern white tiles. The under-stair of the ground floor has fielded panelling and the stair itself has been boarded up, but the plain square newel and shaped handrail are left exposed.
In the basement there is a cold storage room with matchboarded walls and a large, thick insulated door with iron lever handles and thick strap hinges. A steep, open-riser timber stair with tubular handrails provides access between the front rooms of the shop and the basement. The main stair has a turned shaped newel post; the banister is boarded over.
The residential accommodation on the upper floors is not of special interest*.
* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), it is
declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.
