15 Friar Street and Numbers 1 and 26 Harris Arcade, Reading, Abbey, Reading

Summary

A shopping arcade dating from 1929-1931 built for John Harris and incorporating an earlier street frontage of a motor showroom which dates from before 1922.

Description

A shopping arcade dating from 1929-1931 built for John Harris and incorporating an earlier street frontage of a motor showroom which dates from before 1922.

MATERIALS AND PLAN: the street front to Friar Street has a stone surround with carved decoration and plate glass shop windows with bronzed metal surrounds at ground-floor level. The walling of the two storeys above this is of red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone dressings. Flooring of the arcade is of terrazzo and the skylights are of wood and metal with stained and clear glass panels. The arcade is of an irregular L shape with a shorter range leading east from Station Road and a longer range running north-south to connect with Friar Street. The portion of the arcade which includes 15 Friar Street and 1 and 26 Harris Arcade is at the far southern end of the arcade.

EXTERIOR: the street front to Friar Street has three principal bays at ground-floor level, the central one of which forms the southern entrance to the arcade. The shop windows to either side of this are of bowed plate-glass. At left is a doorway leading to the upper floors. To either side of the frontage are wide, panelled pilasters with projecting classical motifs. The entablature above the front has a frieze with a central projecting panel that carries stainless steel lettering reading ‘HARRIS ARCADE’. The deep cornice above has regularly-spaced square blocks (mutules).

The floors above this, which were formerly part of an C18 town house, have four bays with horned sash windows of three by four panes at first-floor level and three by three panes to the second floor, all with splayed heads of gauged brick. To the top of the wall is a bracketed cornice and above this is a low brick parapet.

The arcade pavement is of terrazzo with inlayed black borders. Shop fronts have granite stall risers and plate glass windows, divided by panelled pilasters. The window surrounds are a combination of base metal and timber, all painted in a consistent imitation of bronze. Above the shop windows is a deep transom light which includes regularly-placed pivoting windows to supply ventilation. Decorative motifs cast into the metal and carved into the wood include guilloche and anthemion mouldings and paterae. The plaster ceiling of the arcade at its southern end is panelled. A plaque recording 15 Friar Street as the birthplace of Professor Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) is attached to the entrance front.

INTERIOR: the interiors of all of the shops appear to have been remodelled and contain few original fittings, although suspended ceilings may mask original features. The upper floors were not inspected.

History

The land on which Harris Arcade was built was shown as a series of back gardens to the properties which faced Friar Street on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map published in 1879. The Goad Fire insurance map of 1929 shows the land to be under a variety of uses, including a large motor showroom facing onto Station Road, with top-lit garage space behind it, labelled ‘John Harris (Reading) Ltd. / Garage Repairs’. The property at number 15 Friar Street appears to have been connected to the garage and is labelled as containing ‘oil and tyres’ in the basement. A note on the map reads ‘under alteration 1929’. By 1931 the OS map shows that the whole of the arcade had been built, conforming to its present L-shape and with entrances on Friar Street and Station Road. A photograph of the Station Road façade of the garage building taken in 1922 shows that the car showroom consisted of two single-storey blocks set at either side of number 12 Station Road, which housed offices for the garage. The two-bay block to the north still exists in this single-storey format and is now the Revolution restaurant. The southern block has retained its three-bays at ground floor level, the central one of which now forms the eastern entrance to the Harris Arcade. It appears that the two floors built above it in brick with stone dressings were added at the time of the alterations in 1929-1931. It is not clear if the ground-floor frontage to 15 Friar Street was built during the additions of 1929-1931 or if it pre-dated the construction of the arcade.

The garage was originally known as Great Western Motors and owned by Allen and Simonds. It reverted to this name after 1931. Its ownership by John Harris was relatively short-lived and appears only to have lasted between 1928 and 1931. Nonetheless it seems that the arcade was named after him.

The name of William Rowland Howell has been suggested as the architect responsible for the design of the arcade. Although there is no documentary evidence of his involvement, he had previously designed a showroom for Allen and Simmonds and was active in Reading up until 1938.

The garage continued to operate from the premises to the north and east of the arcade, and the Goad Insurance map of 1958 shows an entrance from Wiston Terrace to the east and the showroom in the single-storey block to the north of the arcade and facing onto Station Road in the premises now operating as Revolution restaurant.

15 Friar Street was the birthplace of Professor Goldwin Smith (1823-1910), the prominent campaigner against slavery in America and for university reform in England. He was responsible for the saying that ‘Above all nations is humanity.’ However, he also held views on minority faiths, race and women that were less tolerant or forward-thinking, by contrast.

Reasons for Listing

Number 15 Friar Street and 1 and 26 Harris Arcade are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the façade to Friar Street includes the upper storeys of a Georgian house of four bays with refined architectural detailing;
* the building also incorporates part of a well-designed and notably well-preserved example of an early-C20 shopping arcade, in a consistent neo-classical style.

Historic interest:

* as an example of a prestigious C18 house at the centre of Reading which was later transformed to include part of a C20 shopping arcade, reflecting the morphology of the town.

Group value:

* with 12, 13 and 14 Friar Street and 147, 154 and 155 Friar Street (all Grade II).

External Links

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