Summary

Former house, late C18/early C19, altered in the C19 and C20 for retail, warehouse and office use

Description

Former house, late C18/early C19, altered in the C19 and C20 for retail, warehouse and office use

MATERIALS: coursed sandstone mainly covered by stucco externally with painted ashlar dressings and sandstone-slate roof coverings

PLAN: 63 Daisy Hill has a wedge-shaped plan with the widest section at the north end and the narrowest at the south end. The building is bounded by Daisy Hill to the north, School Street to the west, and attached buildings on the east and south sides.

EXTERIOR: of three-storeys plus basement with a hipped roof (chimneystacks removed) and a sandstone bracketed eaves, cast-iron rainwater goods, and stuccoed upper floors with incised lines imitating stonework. The building has a two-bay front (north) elevation facing Daisy Hill and a three-bay side (west) elevation onto School Street. To the ground floor of the front elevation is a late-C20, fully-glazed shopfront incorporating a recessed central entrance with glazed double doors and a deep signage fascia above (it is unknown if an earlier fascia survives underneath). The shopfront has a canted north-west corner and then continues around and across the west elevation for a single bay, including the signage fascia. The upper floors of the front elevation have windows with painted surrounds to both floors; those to the first floor are slightly taller and have modern plate-glass glazing, whilst those to the second floor have six-over-six sashes.

The School Street elevation incorporates the shopfront to the ground floor of the left bay and an area of exposed coursed stonework to the centre bay where the stucco has been removed. Immediately to the left is a blocked-up doorway that has been rendered over. To the ground floor of the right bay is a window with plate-glass glazing and internal security bars and an adjacent doorway with panelled double doors and an overlight above. The upper floors have window openings in similar style as those to the front; those to the first floor have plate-glass sashes, to the second floor there are six-over-six sashes to the left bay and later casements to the two right bays. Between the two upper-floor levels of the right bays is a modern C19-style lantern lamp supported on a curved bracket.

Attached to the south end wall is a probable mid-C19 warehouse that does not form part of 63 Daisy Hill. The warehouse has a cutaway north-west corner and in-filling this space is a very small, early-C20, single-storey structure that was incorporated internally into number 63 in the late C20. Above the infill structure and lighting the second floor of number 63 is a small window.

INTERIOR: internally original partitions have been removed and spaces opened up on all floor levels, and late-C20 partitions* that are not of special interest inserted on the ground and first floors. Floorboards are visible on the second floor and most probably also survive on at least the first floor underneath later floor coverings. Some window architraves are moulded, whilst others have plain reveals, and one C19 four-panel door survives. All other doors* have been replaced by late-C20/early C21 examples* that are not of special interest. Late-C20/early-C21 suspended ceilings* have been inserted on the ground floor and front part of the first floor, along with cable trunking* on the walls, and modern commercial ceiling lights* on the first floor, all of which are not of special interest.

The majority of the ground floor has been opened up into a large space with modern cladding* (not of special interest) to some of the walls, but some plain moulded cornicing is visible above the suspended ceiling. A later enclosed stair flight* that is not of special interest has been inserted alongside the west wall between the ground and first floors. A doorway has been inserted in the rear external wall to access a toilet contained within the adjoining early-C20 infill structure. The stonework of number 63's rear wall has been exposed and later brick repairs are also visible.

At the front of the first floor is a large room that has been opened up to the full width of the building. A wide chimneybreast survives to the east wall and an alcove to the left has been built forward and shelves inserted into the upper part. The rear section of the first floor has also been opened up and modern partitioning inserted to create a small storage room on the east side and corridor access to a stair leading up to the second floor. Moulded cornicing and encased beams ceiling beams are visible.

The stair between the first and second floors is located at the rear left (south-east corner) of the building. An inserted doorway in the rear (south) wall opposite the stair with a modern door and accessed via two stone steps at one point provided access into the neighbouring warehouse, but is no longer in use. The door was possibly inserted when the warehouse was constructed. The stair up to the second floor is probably mid-C19 in date and has a bracketed string, turned balusters and newel posts, a ramped handrail, and a panelled under-stair cupboard. The balustrade is boarded over on the second-floor landing, which now forms part of a single opened-up space covering the entirety of the second floor. Substantial ceiling beams are visible on the second floor, along with a lath and plaster ceiling where it has been exposed, and the windows have simple moulded architraves. A chimneybreast survives to the east wall at the front of the building and another possible former chimneybreast on the east side has been adapted to form a built-in cupboard with shallow shelving. Exposed sections of stonework exist to the front and rear where plaster has been removed. The roof structure is partially visible through a ceiling hatch and consists of king-post trusses with additional braces, side purlins, and the roof's stone slates are laid directly on battens and rafters.

The basement is accessed by a later timber ladder-style stair and has substantial ceiling beams supported by a slender cast-iron column and timber uprights. Two blocked-up windows exist to the south wall adjoining the later warehouse and stone shelving for a copper exists to the south-west corner.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the Act') it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

63 Daisy Hill is believed to have been constructed in the late C18/early C19 as a house that was later altered for retail and warehouse use. On the 1:1056 town plan published in 1852 the rear section of the building is depicted as a separate property aligned at a right angle to the section fronting Daisy Hill, but by 1893 it was a single property. In the mid-late C19 the neighbouring property of 61 Daisy Hill was altered and a pent-roofed rear extension added that cuts into the south-east corner of number 63.

In the late C19/early C20 63 Daisy Hill was in use as a baker's or grocers, and in the mid-C20 it was operating as a cloth warehouse. In the latter part of the C20 the building was in use as offices and storage before being vacated in 2019.

Reasons for Listing

63 Daisy Hill, Dewsbury, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it retains its overall form and vernacular character, and its origins as a late-C18/early-C19 house remain clearly readable in the physical fabric;
* despite some later alteration it retains original and early features, including stone-slate roof coverings, six-over-six sash windows, floorboard floorings, cornicing, and a mid-C19 stair flight.

Historic interest:

* it is an interesting example of a residential building converted for retail and warehouse use that reflects the development of Dewsbury town centre in the C19 and C20 as the town's textile trade and prosperity grew.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with other listed buildings on Daisy Hill, including 85-87 Daisy Hill and Central Methodist Church, both listed at Grade II.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26428104

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

• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)