Victorian Arcade (Including Nos. 59, 61 and 66 Lower Hall Lane, 39 and 40, Digbeth Street and 2 to 9 Bradford Street and Those Premises at First and Second Floor Level Above These), St Matthew's, Walsall

Description

WALSALL

1690/0/10068 BRADFORD STREET
16-FEB-09 Victorian Arcade (including Nos. 59, 6
1 and 66 Lower Hall Lane, 39 and 40, Digbe
th Street and 2 to 9 Bradford Street and
those premises at first and second flo
or level above these)

II
A Shopping Arcade with office chambers and assembly room designed by the architect Jonathon Ellis and built in 1895-7.
MATERIALS: Red brick with painted stone dressings to the street fronts with wrought iron balustrades to first floor level on Bradford Street and timber oriel windows above these. The shop fronts have plate glass windows with timber mullions and transoms divided by painted stone piers.
PLAN: The building stands at the centre of Walsall on the site of the former market shambles and is bordered on three sides by roads, from each of which is an entrance. The arcades to the centre of the block are roughly T-shaped in plan. At the hub is an octagonal space with a glazed dome. The long down-stroke of the plan is formed by a two-storey aisle which extends north-east from the octagon to an entrance on Digbeth Street. There is a further two-storey aisle which extends north-west to an entrance on Bradford Street and a third, single-storey aisle is entered from Lower Hall Lane.
EXTERIOR: The frontage onto Bradford Street is divided into five principal bays with additional half-bays at each end, housing staircases which give access to the first floor balconies and second floor offices. Each of these wide bays is divided by projecting pilasters which continue as panelled piers to the first floor level and then revert to pilasters and die out at second-floor level, just below the eaves. At ground floor level each of the wide bays is divided into two shop fronts with a slender panelled pilaster between. The shop fronts each have a stall riser with stall board, plate glass windows at either side of glazed doors and a series of transom lights below the fascia, above which is a dentilled cornice. At first floor, balcony, level the shop fronts are set back and there are cast iron panels of stylised foliage forming the balustrade. Each bay is also divided by two cast iron columns which have Corinthian capitals and which support panels of cast ironwork which form spandrels. Above this at second floor level are a series of four projecting oriel windows, each supported by five pairs of brackets and each having four lights with lower panes of plate glass and upper sash lights of 9 panes. Above the entrance to the arcade is a window of three lights with basket-arched head, flanked by pairs of fluted and panelled pilasters. Above this is a shaped gable with panels of moulded bricks which has lost the miniature pediment which formerly crowned it. The facade to Digbeth Street consists of Nos. 39 and 40 and the archway in between. The shop fronts here have C20 plate glass windows flanked by piers which are clad in C20 mosaic. At first floor level the former decoration survives; at centre is a round-headed arch, the spandrels to which have panels of deeply-cut foliage with profile heads. At either side of this are paired windows with aedicular surrounds. Old photographs show that there was formerly an oriel and shaped gable above the archway at second floor level, but this has now been removed and a C20 second floor added, of brown brick with metal windows.
The front onto Lower Hall Lane has a three-storey portion to the left with cambered-heads to the first and second floor windows. At right of this is a two storey portion with a Mansard roof which has a series of large roof lights and appears to have been a C20 alteration. The windows to this right hand portion have moulded and painted surrounds.
INTERIOR: The arcade has three arms, forming an approximate T-shape. At the hub is an octagonal space which carries a glazed dome with coved sides and a flat boarded ceiling at its centre. To its south-east side is generous segmental bow-window with stained glass inserts and pulvinated frieze, which lights the former assembly room. The arms which are entered from Digbeth Street and Bradford Street are both of two storeys and both are divided into bays by panelled pilasters which appear to both floors and connect to the cast iron roof trusses which support the barrel-vaulted glass roof. At ground floor level the shop fronts are occasionally grouped in pairs so that the doors to two shops lead off from a single lobby. In these cases the ground floor pilaster is replaced by a large, moulded bracket which projects to support the first floor pilaster. As on the outside, the shop fronts have stall risers, moulded stall boards and plate glass windows with transom lights and fascias topped by a continuous cornice. At first floor level the paired office windows have painted, moulded surrounds which are slightly shouldered, below which are aprons with shaped lower edges. Three of the shop fronts in the north-east arcade do not conform to this type and appear to have been remodelled in the 1960s. The arm which extends south-east to connect with Lower Hall Lane is single-storeyed and has a flat ceiling which is not glazed. The shop fronts at either side conform to the pattern seen elsewhere.
The designation does not include the premises at second floor level above Nos. 39 & 40, Digbeth Street and above the entrance archway between them.

HISTORY: The arcade stands on the site of the medieval shambles, which had become a meat market and a timber yard. It was re-developed in 1895-7 by the architect Jonathon Ellis as a shopping arcade with chambers and an assembly room for Edward Thomas Holden who appears also to have built a Temperance Hotel on the opposite side of Digbeth Street at the same time. The arcade buildings were restored c.10 years ago with repair of the glazed barrel-vaulted roof and some of the shop fronts. Old photographs reveal that the front facing Digbeth Street originally had a five-bay second floor with central oriel and shaped gable, which was replaced in the C20. The building was formerly known as Digbeth Arcade, but has recently been renamed as Victorian Arcade.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Victorian Arcade Walsall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* The spaces formed by Victorian Arcade have considerable architectural power and the building retains the full extent of its T-shaped arcade plan and many of its original shop-fronts (some with their original glazing). In addition it also preserves the impressive frontage to Bedford Street with its first-floor balcony arcade of shops and office chambers with their timber oriels. It forms an impressive urban building at the heart of Walsall.

* The external frontage to Bradford Street and particularly the interior spaces of the arcade have distinct architectural quality.

* Victorian Arcade is a well-preserved example of a late-Victorian shopping arcade with office chambers and assembly room.

* It fits well into the pattern of such C19 buildings and survives in all its essentials. The later incremental alterations are not unusual for commercial buildings and it has subsequently undergone a careful restoration.

* Its building on the site of the former market shambles of Walsall gives the building added interest.

Reasons for Listing

Victorian Arcade Walsall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* The spaces formed by Victorian Arcade have considerable architectural power and the building retains the full extent of its T-shaped arcade plan and many of its original shop-fronts (some with their original glazing). In addition it also preserves the impressive frontage to Bradford Street with its first-floor, balcony arcade of shops and office chambers with their timber oriels. It forms an impressive urban building at the heart of Walsall.

* The external frontage to Bradford Street and particularly the interior spaces of the arcade have distinct architectural quality.

* Victorian Arcade is a well-preserved example of a late-Victorian shopping arcade with office chambers and assembly room.

* Its building on the site of the former market shambles of Walsall gives the building added interest.

External Links

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