Nos 9 to 15 (odd) Old Queen Street

XXVI–XXIX.—Nos. 9 to 15 (odd) OLD QUEEN STREET.

Ground Landlords.

The freehold belongs to Mrs. E. A. Rose (No. 9), the Rt. Hon. the Baron Riddell (No. 11), Mrs. Annette K. Crump (No. 13) and Mr. E. Gardner (No. 15).

General Description and Date of Structure.

On 10th June, 1698, Thomas Sutton granted a lease to Humphrey Browne for 61 years of "all that parcell of ground scituate on the south "side of a new street called Queen Street, lying . . . between Dart"mouth Street and Long Ditch . . . containing in front from east "to west 18 feet, and in depth from north to south 38 feet, being the fourth "house eastward from a corner house let to Richard Stoakes." On this plot, we are told, (fn. n1) Browne "did erect and build one new brick messuage, "three stories high, besides cellars and garretts, which is now [1722] "standing thereupon, formerly in the occupation of one Mrs. Cooper, "and now in that of … Hussum Esq." The house in question was the present No. 15 Old Queen Street, and the date of erection was evidently 1698 or 1699. No similar records have been found relating to the original leases of Nos. 9 to 13, but there can be little doubt that these houses were erected at about the same time.

The premises comprise a terrace of three-storey houses (Plate 70) over a basement, and an attic storey in a tiled roof. With the exception of No. 15, the exterior is in plain brickwork, relieved with a flat-brick band at the second-floor level, and a similar band over the second-floor windowheads. The windows have gauged brick arches, with the frames slightly recessed from the outer wall face, and Nos. 13 and 15 have the sashes divided into small glass squares. The ground-floor storey has been altered by enlargement of the windows. Internally the plans generally correspond to one another, and No. 15, which is illustrated on the next page, is typical. The small powder-closets in the back projections are links with the original occupancy of the houses at the end of the 17th century. They have a weather-boarded exterior, with stout sash-bars to the windows. Some of the rooms have square panelling with a heavily moulded wood cornice and chair-rail. The staircase walls are also panelled, and the stairs have turned or spiral balusters with square newel posts.

Features of special interest are as follows:—

No. 9. The staircase has spiral balusters and moulded close strings.

No. 11. The entrance doorway has shaped trusses, and an ornamental wood fanlight with intersecting arched bars. Two dwarf windows were afterwards inserted between the ground and first-floor windows, but their use has been discontinued.

No. 13. The staircase has spiral balusters and moulded close strings. The doors retain their old "H" hinges of iron, and a small cupboard on the second-floor landing has an interesting open lattice-work panel over the door.

No. 15. The front wall has been carried up to enclose the attic storey, and its external face has been rendered in cement. The entrance doorway has a carved wood pulvinated frieze with foliated consoles. The staircase has turned balusters, with moulded close string and square newel posts. The front room on the first floor has an interesting semicircular china cupboard in two heights, with shaped shelves (Plate 70). (The doors are missing, though the hinges remain.) The mantelpiece to the back room on the second floor has an architrave moulding of a type much used during the latter part of the 17th century.

Condition of Repair.

The premises are in a fair state of repair, though some of the floors have a decided drop.

Historical Notes.

The occupiers of these houses before 1840 were, according to the ratebooks, as follows:—

In the Council's Collection are:—

(fn. n2) Nos. 9–15 (odd). General exterior (photograph).
No. 13. General view of staircase (photograph).
do. Cupboard front on second-floor landing (photograph).
No. 15. General view of entrance doorway (photograph).
do. General view of staircase (photograph).
(fn. n2) do. General view of china cupboard (photograph).
(fn. n2) do. Ground and first-floor plans (measured drawing).
(fn. n2) Nos. 27–41 (odd). General view of exterior (premises now demolished) (photograph).