Description

The following building shall be added:

LEMAN STREET
TQ 3480-3481

22/894-15/894 Offices for the Cooperative
Wholesale Society

II GV

Office block. 1885-7 by J F Goodey of Colchester for the
Co-operative Wholesale Society. Red brick with stone dressings
on 2 storey granite plinth. Corner site with clock tower.
6 storeys and semi-basement. 8 bays, turret on right angle
and 3 bay right hand return. Pilasters form ground floor
support dentil cornice at 2nd floor sill level. Corresponding
brick pilasters rise to 6th floor forming shallow arcaded
recesses with banded stone and brick arches. Main entrance
in 4th bay from right; round-arched with recessed mouldings
and panelled doors. 3-light oriel over. Flanked by chanelled
pilaster strips. Left hand bay with ground-arched vehicle
entrance and similar oriel. Ground-floor windows square-headed.
1st floor segmental arched, both mostly with 3 lights and
small panes in top portions. Turret begins at 1st floor level
with segmental arched, arcaded windows. 2nd floor windows
paired with segmental arches, small panes in upper portions
linked across pilasters by stone impost bands. 3rd and 4th
floor, square-headed windows with similar glazing, stone sill
bands and lintels linking across pilasters. 5th floor, venetian
windows with moulded and panelled stone heads. 2nd to 4th
floors above main entrance a continuous stone canted bay with
arcaded windows having enriched aprons and heads. 2nd floor
window apron with carved sheaf of corn, spade, and hook flanked
by coats of arms. Cornice with lombard frieze beneath which
blind oculi in spandrels of arch-heads and glazed oculus above
entrance bay. Turret terminates in rectangular clock tower
with fish scale slate mansard surmounted by wrought iron
balustrade. Right hand return similar but with Words
"Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited" in recessed arch
heads. Interior believed to retain mahogany panelled dining
room and assembly hall. This is the earlier CWS building in
a street of several warehouses and offices built by the CWS
adjacent to the now demolished Midlands Railway goods depot
which provided a direct link to the Society's base in Manchester.

Listing NGR: TQ3408781019

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27084915

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

• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas