Description

SJ 5441
8/99
1.5.51

WHITCHURCH URBAN C.P.
HIGH STREET (south-west side)
Nos. 36 and 38 (formerly listed as Express Cafe)

GV
II

House, latterly cafe, now shop. Dated 1677 at rear, remodelled in the late
C18. Rendered, probably over brick, with brick addition to rear.
Probably incorporating timber framing. Plain tile roof, hipped to right.
3 storeys over basement. Moulded stone string course between first and
second floors, moulded cornice, and parapet with moulded coping. Integral
brick end stack to left (top rebuilt c.1900) on dressed grey sandstone base.
2 bays; tripartite glazing bar sashes with stone cills and slightly-
segmental heads. Shop-front of c.1900 with pair of plate-glass windows,
central recessed pair of half-glazed doors with engraved glass, flanking
panelled pilasters, and deep fascia. Wrought-iron sign bracket between
second-floor windows. C18 three-storey addition at rear with plat band.
Interior: ground-floor remodelled c.1900 with Fulgoni's Cafe on ground
floor and first floor to front. Ovolo-moulded beams with ogee stops to
first- and second-floor rooms. Elaborate oak L-plan staircase of c.1677
with half landings, angled balustrades to full landings, pulvinated closed
string, rectangular-section balusters, grip handrail, and square newel posts
with bulbous finials and pendants. Flight from ground floor removed
during c.1900 remodelling and attic flight altered at some time to turn 90°
in opposite direction. First-floor front room: fireplace of c.1690-1700
to right with bolection-moulded architrave, pulvinated frieze and moulded
cornice. Probably c.1900 Seventeenth-Century style carved wooden fireplace
to left with figures, pilasters, frieze with guilloche ornament, and
carved cornice. Room formerly 2 but now divided by folding screen of c.1900.
Dado rail. Half-glazed café door of c.1900. C19 cast-iron grate to
first floor. Ground-floor top-lit rear room of c.1900 with husk swags in
frieze. Basement with pair of C17 ovolo-moulded beams. Although the
facade of the range has been altered, probably in the late C18 (windows
etc.), the heavy moulded string course and cornice probably date from the
C17, suggesting that the building has always been of brick construction,
perhaps with timber-framed internal walls only. The datestone, recorded
elsewhere (Town Trail etc.), was not noted at time of survey (November
1986).B.O.E., p. 314; Whitchurch Area Archaeological group, Whitchurch
Rembered, ill. 21; Whitchurch Town Trail.

Listing NGR: SJ5413441581

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26307613

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
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  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
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  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)