Survey Data
Reg No
50080267
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Millar's
Original Use
Store/warehouse
In Use As
Office
Date
1905 - 1910
Coordinates
314390, 233906
Date Recorded
05/06/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached nine-bay three-storey former distillery and tea and wine wholesalers, built 1908, having integral carriage arch, full-height return and single-storey extension to rear (south) elevation. Now in use as offices. Flat roof having parapet to front with granite capping and platband. Red brick chimneystacks having granite capping and clay chimney pots. Red brick walls laid in English garden wall bond to front having ashlar granite to ground floor and cut granite cornice to first floor sill level. Yellow brick walls laid in English garden wall bond to east elevation, rendered walls to west elevation. Red brick walls to rear. Square-headed window openings having granite sills and one-over-one pane timber sash windows to first and second floors. Diocletian windows to ground floor having ashlar granite surround with projecting keystone and timber framed windows. Square-headed door opening having ashlar granite surround with bull-nosed reveals, granite cornice above and timber panelled door. Oculus over door having granite surround with bull-nosed reveals, keystone and nine-pane timber framed window. Round-headed carriage arch having ashlar granite surround with bull-nosed reveals, projecting keystone and cornice above. Some limestone cobbles to carriage-way. Timber-battened gates to carriage-arch. Remnants of former signage visible to nameplate over carriage-arch.
Appraisal
This former distillers and tea and wine wholesalers, designed by Millar and Symes, retains its early-twentieth-century form and character. The crisp machine-made brick is typical of the era. Historic fabric remains in the early windows, brickwork, stone detailing and cobblestones. Skilled stonemasonry is evident in the detailing. The large round-headed window openings at ground floor level enliven the streetscape. Thomas Street was laid out by the early eighteenth century and was an important thoroughfare linking the city with the west.