Description

BOSTON

TF3244SE SOUTH STREET
716-1/7/169 (East side)
20/11/75 Nos.2 AND 4
Shodfriars Hall

GV II*

Guildhall, now shops, offices and entertainments hall. c1400,
C17, restored and extended by Sir George Gilbert Scott 1873.
Timber-framed with lath and plaster nogging, and red brick
with plain tile roofs.
EXTERIOR: main timber-framed facade to South Street, 3 storeys
plus attics, with jettied 1st and 2nd floors. 2 large bays,
each topped by a C19 bargeboarded gable. 2 tall brick ridge
stacks. Ground floor has 8, four-centred arches, 3 to right
form shop, No.2, and 2 to left form shop, No.4, 2 arches
between have studded doors to offices above. Both shops have
central doors flanked by glazing bar shop windows. 1st floor
has arch-braced box framing with plaster panels decorated with
Tudor roses. Each bay has a group of one 3-light and two
4-light wooden traceried mullion windows. Above each bay has a
group of four 3-light similar windows. Above again gables have
diamond brace, decorative framing, with a pair of 3-light
wooden mullion windows each.
The north facade, to Sibsey Lane has a single timber-framed
and jettied bay to the west, with four 4-centred arches with
glazing bar shop windows, above a pair of 4-light wooden
traceried mullion windows, and above again four 3-light
similar windows, above again in the bargeboarded gable with
decorative diamond arch-braced framing and a pair of 3-light
wooden mullioned windows.
The remainder of this facade is brick added in 1873 in the
Gothic Revival style, with 4 bays to the west with a single
4-centred arch doorway and 2 small casements. Above 3 tall
casements and a blind white brick panel each in a chamfered
4-centred arch. Further east, 3 very tall bays topped by a
cross-stepped gable each. The western bay has a shop at ground
floor, and the others have 2 casements, above 3 very tall
pointed arch cross casement windows, each flanked by single
lower, 4-centred arch white brick panels. Beyond to the east a
single bay entrance bay with a single double chamfered
segmental arched entrance, with above 4 white brick panels in
chamfered 4-centred arches.
The south facade, to Shodfriars Lane has 3 bays of arch-braced
and jettied box framing to west, with 6 alternating wide and
narrow 4-centred arches, with glazing bar shop windows and 3
plain arches beyond. Above two 2-light and a single 3-light
traceried wooden mullioned windows. Above again three 3-light
similar windows. Beyond to east, the remainder of the facade
is brick of 1873, with 3 very tall bays, topped by
crow-stepped gables.
The ground floor has 2 small shops, and 2 doorways and 2
casement windows, above 3 very tall pointed arch cross
basement windows, each flanked by single lower 4-centred arch
white brick panels. Beyond to east a final bay, with a doorway
and 2 casements on the ground floor, with above a central
casement and above again a loft doorway and hoist within a
4-centred double-chamfered arch, with either side tall white
brick panels in 4-centred arches, each with a small casement.
INTERIOR: 2 king post roof misses in right range and a fine
C17 fireplace elaborately carved with panelled overmantle.
HISTORY: this building was probably built as the 'Golden
Hows', 'the principal mansion of the guilds' c1400.
The rear wing of 1873 was built for Boston Conservative Club.

Listing NGR: TF3285844000

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17543016

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)