7 & 9 Broad Street

Cadw's description

Location

Situated in terraced row, between premises of Country Works and Broad Street Farmhouse, No. 9 to left of No. 7.

History

Pair of late C18 to early C19 three-storey red brick houses, now one. Possibly a refronting of earlier houses. Marked on 1833 map as owned by Powis estate, occupied in 1839 by Edward Weaver and Frances Lloyd. The houses appear to have been built with separate shop premises with their own entrances. The surgery of Dr Fairles was in one c. 1870. Gornall Bros, painters and decorators, established 1901, occupied the building until closure c2000, still owned by the family.

Exterior

Mirrored pair of terraced houses, red brick laid in Flemish bond, with nogged brick eaves and slate roof. Large brick rear wall stacks. Three storeys, three bays with dummy central windows to upper floors, over paired doorways, and have ground floor shops with their own outer doors. Flat headed windows with gauged brick heads and painted stone sills. Six-pane windows to top floor, 12-pane to first floor and originally to ground floor next to outer shop doors, but window on No 7 is enlarged. The four doorcases are similar but the inner pair are taller in coupled doorcase with thin pilasters, panelled fascias, and single shelf cornice. Doors have elegant tracery of intersected opposed curves to overlights. Both centre doors belong to No 7, the left one of four panels, the right one a ledged door to a through passage. The outer doors have similar doorcases but lower as without overlights. Half glazed door to No 9 shop, the ground floor 12-pane sash window to right has lost the glazing bars of the lower half. On No 7 a C19 shop window replaces the original smaller window and has a frame similar to the doors, but with panelled pilasters, sharing the shelf cornice with the two centre doors. Large 2-pane window. The outer doorway has a six-panel flush-panelled door.
Tall three-storey C19 brick rear wing to No 7, built after a fire. Older, two-storey rear wing to No 9. Rear of No 9 has big brick rear wall chimney and raised top floor with cambered headed window next to chimney. Rear wing has E wall of close-studded timber to ground floor with one heavy horizontal rail. first floor is plastered. Triple casement above, fixed 4-pane window below. Range beyond to S has E wall of rubble stone.

Stone setts in front.

Interior

Two stopped ceiling beams with thick chamfers in each front room and on first floor front of No 9. Room in rear wing of No 9 with one N-S beam and plain joists. Staircase with straight balusters in No 9.

Reason for designation

Included for their special historic interest as a little-altered pair of later C18 houses unusually combined with original separately-entered shops.