15 High Street

Summary

House. Late 1830s.

Reasons for Designation

15 High Street, Skipton, of the late 1830s, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an early-C19 townhouse with a handsome, three-storey front elevation in good-quality ashlar stone;
* the interior retains many fixtures and fittings, including a fine cantilevered staircase with slender, turned balusters and swept handrail, cornices, moulded architraves, panelled doors, and inbuilt cupboards and shelves.

Historic interest:

* the building makes a strong contribution to the historic streetscape of Skipton High Street, notably the group of 17 to 19 High Street and the Town Hall with which it forms a short row.

History

The former house stands on the east side of the northern end of High Street. It is northernmost in a row of three buildings, abutting numbers 17 to 19 and the Town Hall.

In 1822 William Metcalf, a brush manufacturer from Manchester, married Ann Dale. Her father David Dale, a farmer, owned an earlier house on the plot; the house being privately owned, rather than belonging to the Castle Estate. Mr Metcalfe is recorded as the owner/occupier on John Wood’s 1832 Plan of Skipton. He then replaced that house with the present building most probably in the late 1830s – it is similar in appearance to the adjoining numbers 17 to 19 which are recorded as being built from 1837. The 1841 census listed Metcalf living there with his parents-in-law, six children including two-year-old twins and four female servants; his wife appeared to have died two years earlier, possibly in childbirth.

The building then regularly had different occupants. In 1851 the head of household was Thomas Heelis, a solicitor, in 1861 it was William Harrison, a general practitioner, and by 1881 it was William Jackson, a physician and surgeon, with John Scott, a brewer, and his family living there in 1891. By 1911 number 15 was occupied by Marmaduke Redmayne Knowles, a solicitor, his wife, son and daughter and two female servants – the 1901 census had shown the family living at number 17 High Street, with Arthur Gunnell, a cotton mill manager, and his family at number 15. Kelly’s 1927 Directory (p874) shows the solicitors’ firm of Knowles and Harrison occupying 19 High Street. At an unknown date in the first half of the C20, number 15 ceased being residential and the firm moved into the property. Subsequently, in the late C20, it was replaced by the firm Savage Crangle Solicitors, who continue to occupy the building.

Details

House. Late 1830s.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of coursed ashlar sandstone and coursed rubble gritstone with stone slate roof.

PLAN: number 15 is a three-storey house with basement. It has a rear, three-storey wing with a single-storey, lean-to outshot.

EXTERIOR: the house stands in a short row, together with numbers 17 and 19 and the Town Hall, on the east side of the northern end of High Street.

The three-storey, three-bay front elevation faces west onto High Street with an alleyway on the left and abutting numbers 17 and 19 on the right. It is constructed of coursed ashlar stone with a plinth, sill bands on each floor and a moulded cornice. The outer, left-hand corner has a pilaster with a capital of double scrolls supporting a square block relief-carved with a wreath (another similar pilaster separates the left-hand side of number 17 from the right-hand side of number 15). The stone slate roof has stone coping to the left, outer edge and there are two ridge stacks on the right-hand, south side. The first-bay doorway has a moulded stone architrave, six-panelled door and rectangular overlight of three panes with narrow side lights. To the right are two rectangular windows with moulded stone architraves, with three windows on the first floor with a moulded stone architrave to the central window and wedge lintels to the outer windows, and three shorter windows on the second floor with wedge lintels. All the windows have six-over-one pane sashes, though only those on the second floor are horned. Beneath the ground-floor windows are rectangular barred areas for two basement windows.

The outer, north side elevation is of roughly coursed rubblestone with a pitched gable wall to the front range, with two windows on the left-hand side close to a blind, gabled rear wing which is slightly angled out to follow the line of the alleyway. Both windows have square-cut stone frames. The larger ground-floor window has a six-over-six pane sash and the smaller, square window above has a two-over-two pane sash.

The rear, east elevation is of three storeys and two bays and is built of roughly coursed rubblestone with corner quoins and widely-spaced stone eaves gutter brackets. The left-hand side of the ground floor has a lean-to outshot also of roughly coursed rubblestone with a stone slate roof. To the right are a tall rectangular window with a casement frame with fixed upper light and a former doorway, now a casement window with stone blocking below and tiling above. The first floor has two tall rectangular windows with eight-over-twelve pane unhorned sashes, and the second floor has two shorter windows with eight-over-eight pane unhorned sashes. All the windows and the former doorway have square-cut stone frames. The outshot has a square window in the outer wall of nine panes with a square-cut stone frame.

INTERIOR: the staircase rises on the south side of the building with rooms to front and rear opening off the stair hall and upper-floor landings.

Fixtures and fittings include moulded cornices in the majority of rooms, with picture rails in some rooms, and four-panelled doors with moulded architraves to the doorways and windows. The front ground-floor windows have panelled soffits, and there are panelled soffits and jambs to first-floor doorways and front windows with panelling also beneath the windows. The doorway from the rear ground-floor room into the outshot has a fielded six-panelled door with a multi-pane rectangular overlight. There are a number of inbuilt cupboards with moulded architraves and shelves, some with glazed doors. A painted timber fire surround with pilasters, entablature and mantelpiece remains in the north rear room on the first floor, and there is a plain, square-cut stone fire surround in the south rear room on the second floor.

The front doorway opens into an inner lobby with black and white diamond floor tiles, moulded dado rail, with an inserted window in the right side wall, and an inner panelled door with multi-paned glazing to the top half and a large overlight of six panes with coloured-patterned sidelights. This leads through to a stair hall with the full-height staircase with a rectangular roof lantern over with multi-pane glazing. The cantilevered staircase has shaped step ends, slender, turned balusters and a swept mahogany handrail with scrolled newel at the base and ramped at the top landing with a turned newel post. Beneath, stone steps lead down to the cellar.

End of official list entry

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