Survey Data
Reg No
50010289
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Gospel hall
Date
1835 - 1895
Coordinates
316170, 234606
Date Recorded
08/12/2011
Date Updated
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Description
Three-bay two-storey Baptist chapel, built 1839, modified 1891, with five-bay double-height side elevation and lean-to to rear. Currently vacant. Pitched slate roof, hipped to front with two copper louvred lanterns to ridge and rendered chimneystack to rear. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Random coursed rubble calp limestone walls, cement rendered to east side elevation. Raised parapet wall to front elevation with central pediment to shallow breakfront and deep moulded cornice spanning front elevation. Deep moulded cornice between ground and first floors with slight recess over central entrance bay. Slender round-headed window openings throughout with architrave surrounds to first floor of front elevation having single-pane timber sliding sash windows. Double-height window openings to east side elevation with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows and granite sills. Square-headed window openings to ground floor with tripartite timber-framed windows and moulded sills. Central square-headed door opening with steel roller shutter flanked by paired Doric pilasters having moulded bases and earlier stucco capitals. Door opens onto granite platform spanning front elevation and four granite steps, all enclosed to street by decorative cast-iron railings and gates with decorative scrolled iron braces.
Appraisal
Formerly known as Great and Little Mary Street, Abbey Street derives its name from Saint Mary’s Abbey, whose extensive lands covered most of the northeast of the city. Formed in 1828 by the Wide Streets Commissioners, the street had become the home of three Nonconformist chapels by the 1840s. No.12C was built as a Baptist chapel in 1839 to the designs of George Papworth in a very restrained classical style. However, the rhythm of the five attenuated windows adds variety to Northumberland Place and the decorative railings with their paired scrolled stay bars add texture to the streetscape.