Description

HERTFORD

TL3212NE FORE STREET
817-1/17/70 (South side)
10/02/50 No.42

GV II*

Shop, with residence over. c1825, with late C19 and C20
alterations. Stuccoed front, yellow-grey stock brick rear,
with plastered second floor. Welsh slated roof concealed by
front parapet-cornice.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys. 2-bay front; standard late Georgian urban
facade overlaid with modelled stucco decorative motifs, with a
ground floor timber shopfront of the same style. Tapered roll
mouldings outline a full-height pylon across the elevation,
with a bold cavetto cornice enriched with modelled scarabs.
First and second floors have recessed 12-pane sash windows,
the latter of squatter proportions, with projecting tapered
architrave surrounds resembling pylons, with role and cavetto
cornices enriched with modelled winged globes over first-floor
windows only.
Ground floor has original Egyptian style shopfront,
substantially unaltered save for the late C19 substitution of
large plate-glass sashes for the original small-paned display
windows. Tapered slim pilasters with foliated capitals, and
metal grilles below sills; recessed twin leaf three quarter
glazed entrance doors with fanlight above. Full width fascia,
with bold cavetto cornice enriched with moulded scarabs,
tablets and a central winged globe motif. Long rear outshut.
INTERIOR: of ground floor completely remodelled and used as
restaurant, in conjunction with basement at time of
inspection; upper floors not viewed.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Egyptian Revival became fashionable at
the time of the Egyptian campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars. The
opening of William Bullock's Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in
1812, designed by PF Robinson, sparked a series of Egyptian
style buildings. Most of the urban buildings in the Egyptian
style built over the next two decades, including this Hertford
building, can be traced to The Egyptian Hall.
A polychromatic colour scheme was installed during the 1980s
following the example of The Egyptian House in Penzance
(c1835), restored by The Landmark Trust in 1973.
(Hope Bagenal: The Georgian and Post Georgian Buildings of
Hertford: 1929-: 21; Forrester H: Timber-framed buildings in
Hertford and Ware: Hitchin: 1964-: 26; Hertfordshire
Countryside: Moodey G: Georgian brickwork of the choicest
sort: Letchworth: 1946-1973: 28; Turnor L: History of

Hertford: Hertford: 1830-: PLATE FACING P 280; The Buildings
of England: Pevsner N: Hertfordshire: Harmondsworth: 1977-:
191).

Listing NGR: TL3270512572

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554135

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.

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