Former Dixons jeweller's shop with accommodation above, 79 Senhouse Street

Summary

A late C19 jeweller's shop, with fittings, and dwelling over, part of a terrace built about 1891.

Reasons for Designation

The former Dixons jeweller’s shop with accommodation above, 79 Senhouse Street, of about 1891, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a well-preserved example of a combined shop and domestic accommodation that largely retains its original plan form and fixtures and fittings, including ornate stair, plasterwork, chimneypieces, and letterbox and name plate;

* once a common high-street shop, jewellers’ shops are becoming increasingly rare survivals of a traditional commercial building type;

* the symmetry and character of the original handsome late-C19 shopfront is retained and legible, and includes notable survivals of security shutters and external display cabinet;

* the simple shop interior retains shop fittings, such as the large mahogany, glazed display cabinets with curved ends, that fully reflect the shop's character and function.

History

Maryport is a mid-C18 town and port, succeeding a small settlement and harbour known as Ellenfoot (Alnfoot). It was established on a planned grid pattern by Humphrey Senhouse (1731-1814) to serve the local coal mining and iron industry, and functioned as a minor shipping point. During the C19 the town and port expanded to serve the local iron and steel industries as the town’s shipbuilding industry developed, and by the mid-C19 coal exporting had declined and the railway was introduced. The port and town remained important on the west Cumberland coast but declined with the cessation of major industrial activity from the late 1920s.

Senhouse Street, running from Curzon Street to the harbour, retains its historic layout of diverse C18 and C19 buildings. Its north-west end is known as Shipping Brow and forms the earliest part of the mid-C18 grid pattern. The eastern end of Senhouse Street, marked by the widening of the street and appearance of parades of shops, dates to the late C19. The parade of nine individual units of which Dixon's jewellers forms a part is a three-storeyed single-phase structure on the south side of the street (69-85). Each of the properties has a retail unit at ground-floor with the first and second floors providing residential accommodation. It is considered to have been constructed in 1891, as a newspaper article in that year describes the erection of nine shops and houses in Senhouse Street. This is supported by the fact that the west end of the street is built up against and slightly over an existing pair of houses that are dated 1887 above the door. Dixon's jewellers was established in Maryport in 1880, originally occupying premises at 104 Crosby Street. In March 1892 the business moved to 'one of the new shops in Senhouse Street’.

Alterations to the building are few, and include uPVC windows to the rear elevation, the mid-C20 replacement of two original fireplaces, and the recent removal of the original shop canopy. The building has a second-floor flying freehold to the front attic room above 81 Senhouse Street.

Details

A late C19 jeweller's shop, with fittings, and dwelling over, part of a terrace built about 1891.

MATERIALS: coursed blocks of rusticated red sandstone, with ashlar dressings, and timber shop front.

EXTERIOR: The ground floor retains an original, three-bay timber shopfront comprising a central three-sided canted shop window flanked to either side by a splayed, recessed entrance. Each is within an arched shop bay. Although the fabric canopy has been removed, its frame and mechanism remains. The central bay has a plinth and a stall riser, supporting the bay shop window, which has decorative cast-iron mullions and capitals. The window retains original panelled timber security shutters, to its lower and central parts. Both recessed entrances have boarded soffits and doors with glazed fanlights. The left entrance has a four-panel timber door, with a replacement timber gate to the front, and the right entrance has a glazed door and shallow, curving glass display cabinet with a removable timber cover. The concave fascia above the shopfront has painted lettering reading John Dixon & Son/Watchmaker & Jeweller Est 1880. There is a three-light first-floor canted bay window with moulded sill and lintel within an ashlar surround and cornice. It is fitted with a marginal light top sash over single sash panes to all three sides. This is framed by a pair of strip pilasters that rise to a moulded eaves cornice; they flank a square-headed dormer window which breaks through the eaves, and has a sliding sash of six over two panes. The rear elevation is rendered, and has a rectangular window in a stone surround to each floor; all but the ground floor have uPVC replacement frames.

INTERIOR: the left recessed entrance opens into a plain passage, with a ceramic tiled floor, which extends to the rear of the building. There is an entrance through the right side of the passage to 79 Senhouse Street. This has a later-C19 ornate letter box plate, and a name plate inscribed 'J DIXON' and the words 'J DIXON ENGRAVER', thought to have been moved from their original position on the main entrance.

The small ground floor shop retains original glass fronted mahogany display cabinets with carved Classical detailing to the top, probably bronze, now painted white, and the cabinets have curved ends. The cabinets are fixed and extends across two walls in an L shaped formation. Other shelving is later in date. To the rear of the shop there is a second room, with fitted enclosed cupboards, a moulded cornice, and a late-C19 chimney piece with a cast iron grate; there is also a single in situ gas mantle with pipework. This room was likely to have been used as an office/workshop.

Enclosed stairs lead down to a basement from the central stair hall. This had domestic use during the later C20, and it has a mid-C20 chimney piece, fitted timber cupboards and ceramic tiled floor. An open-string stair with curtail and geometric stencilled risers, but missing its balustrade and handrail, leads to the first floor. The front room has a moulded cornice, frieze, picture rail and a ceiling rose with an eight-pointed star design. The panelled bay window is shielded by a late-C20 timber frame with opaque and coloured glass doors, and a mid-C20 timber and tiled chimney piece. The rear room has a similar decorative scheme, though no ceiling rose, and it retains a timber chimney piece fitted with an Edwardian tiled, cast-iron grate. The mahogany staircase with ornate newel posts, turned balusters and a moulded handrail, continues to the attic storey. The rear and front attic rooms are plain, and retain round-arched cast-iron Victorian grates; the front attic room gives access to a flying freehold front attic room above number 81 Senhouse Street. The latter has an identical cast-iron fireplace. Also, at attic level there is a shallow arched recess in the party wall of number 79 and number 77 Senhouse Street; some of the room partitions to the attic have been inserted.

MAPPING NOTE: the front, second floor attic room above number 81 Senhouse Street belongs to number 79 Senhouse Street as a flying freehold. This is included, but unmapped.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Hyde, M, The Buildings of England: Cumbria, (2010), 513-516
Morrison, K, English Shops and Shopping An Architectural History, (2003)

Websites
Maryport Historic Areas Assessment, accessed 15-04-2014 from https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/48-2022

Other
The Maryport Advertiser 1881: John Dixon at 104 Crosby Street
West Cumberland Mail & Maryport Advertiser Aug 15 1891: Building of nine houses and shops in Senhouse Street
The Maryport Advertiser 1892: John Dixon, Jeweller moves to 79 Senhouse Street

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