Summary

Early-C19 house and shop, altered in the late-C20.

Description

Early-C19 shops with accommodation above, altered in the late-C20.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of brick with stucco render to the gable end of the principal range. The roof is covered in slate.

PLAN: rectangular on plan, oriented roughly west to east.

EXTERIOR: the principal facade of the building faces north and is across seven bays over three storeys with a window opening within each bay on the upper floors. The sixth bay is blind owing to the conversion to a larger dwelling at the west end of the upper floors. The remaining bays each have a sash window with slim glazing bars on the first and second floors. The first-floor sashes are six-over-six with the windows above three-over-three. The shop fronts dates to the C20.

The upper storey flats are accessed via an entrance at the north end of Union Passage with a total of three separate dwellings on the upper floors with access on top of the flat-roofed extension (not included in the listing). The three apartments are each arranged over the two upper storeys with the west end apartment having two bedrooms and two further one-bedroom units to the east. The fenestration on the south façade has been altered with C20 sash windows in various sizes and C20 entrance doors.

INTERIOR: the interiors of the two shop units have been modernised throughout with the shops continuing to the rear flat-roofed ranges containing storerooms and offices (not included). The upper floor apartments created in the late-C20 are each arranged over the first and second floor and have modern fittings and finishes throughout.

History

A settlement at Ashby-de-la-Zouch is recorded in the Domesday Book with the town expanding and developing over the subsequent centuries. By the C18 the town had become a strategic location for passing trade between London and the Midlands which brought with it wealth, with many buildings along Market Street rebuilt or re-fronted during the period. The town continued to prosper into the C19, when it became a spa resort following the discovery of saline springs in 1805.

28 and 32 Market Street is likely to have been constructed during the town’s period of prosperity in the early-C19 century as shops with accommodation above. Bennett’s 1888 Business Directory for Leicestershire lists the newsagents and booksellers W H Carman at 28 Market Street at the end of the C19.

In the late-C20 planning permission was granted for the alteration of the shops, and for the rebuilding of the attached rear ranges (not included). The alterations also saw the creation of three residential units over the shops and the upper floors were refurbished and altered as part of these works.

Reasons for Listing

28 and 32 Market Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the building is constructed in a smart, classical style with sash windows with slim glazing bars on the upper floors;

Historic interest:

* the building was constructed in the early-C19, a period of prosperity and growth for the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, helping to illustrate the town’s development during this period.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26643551

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)