Summary

A house, dating from the C18 and earlier, with later shopfront, including one bay of the ground floor of the adjacent building (20 Steep Hill).

Description

A house, dating from the C18 and earlier, with later shopfront, including one bay of the ground floor of the adjacent building (20 Steep Hill).

MATERIALS
Red brick with clay pantile roofs.

PLAN
Single-depth, two bays to 19 Steep Hill and a further bay of the ground floor annexed from 20 Steep Hill, to the north; the first floor has a flying freehold in favour of 20 Steep Hill. There is a late-C19 lean-to extension running across the rear (west).

EXTERIOR
A two-bay building, of two storeys and attic, with an additional ground-floor bay annexed from the neighbouring building to the north. The building has a rendered plinth to the left, deepening to accommodate the steeply-falling ground. The ground floor has a six-over-six sash window in a segmental-headed opening to the left, with a part-glazed door with a rectangular overlight to its right. Immediately right again, at the extreme northern end of the building, is a timber shopfront with pilasters, dentilled cornice, late-C20 door with overlight, and single window. The window portion marks the annexed ground-floor bay of 20 Steep Hill. The first-floor windows are two timber casements of three lights, in segmental arched openings. To the attic, a central gabled dormer with decorative bargeboards. The south gable end is rendered.

INTERIOR
The ground floor has a through-passage created by the insertion of a modern partition, with a short flight of steps at the rear leading in to the lean-to extension beyond. The former partition between 19 Steep Hill and 20 Steep Hill has been removed to give access into the annexed portion of the latter building. This portion of the building has a blocked stair window indicating where the stair rose in 20 Steep Hill. A winder stair is set into the south-western corner of 19 Steep Hill, with another blocked stair window. There is a small fireplace set flush against the rear wall, with the flue in an external chimney stack now contained within the lean-to. The first floor has a single room contained wholly within the footprint of 19 Steep Hill, with another small fireplace at the rear.

History

19 Steep Hill appears to be a building of the C18, with C19 alterations, but may have earlier origins as a timber-framed structure, part of the same construction as the adjoining building, 20 Steep Hill; there are some indications in the fabric and evolution to suggest they shared a timber ground-floor wall, which has since been removed. It appears to have originated as a house, and was later converted to use as a house and shop, annexing one bay of the ground floor of 20 Steep Hill for use as shop floor space, with a shopfront inserted which runs across the northernmost bay of 19 Steep Hill, and the southernmost bay of 20 Steep Hill. 20 Steep Hill retains the upper floor of this bay. The brickwork to the ground floor appears earlier in date than that to the upper storey, perhaps indicating that an earlier timber-framed front was first built in brick to the ground floor, possibly underbuilding a former jetty; and later the first floor was also faced in brick, implying that for a time the upper storey might have remained timber-framed.

Reasons for Listing

19 Steep Hill is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as an evolved house of the C18 and earlier, with later alterations including conversion to a shop, its C19 shop front with neat detailing, which extends into one ground-floor bay of 20 Steep Hill (the remainder of 20 Steep Hill is listed with 21-22 Steep Hill);

Historic interest:
* for the evolution legible in its fabric, including the progression from house to shops;

Group value:
* with the large number of other listed buildings along both sides of Steep Hill.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26668241

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas