|
Listing: Late C18.
Comment: currently (and for a long time now) mainly
occupied by a firm of solicitors, Thornes; but earlier on it was all part and
parcel of Cope's wine lodge and associated premises. Presumably built all of a
piece, though the windows to the last bay on the right, and the treatment of the
ground floor facade, need some explanation. The facade on the return to the
right is much simpler and, as it faces the steps down from Lich Gates to Civic
Square, is one storey taller.
Anthony Perry ("St. Peter's House", St. Peter's Collegiate Church, 1998, at
p.8) says: "It seems that St. Peter's Chambers and Old Bank Chambers offices ...
had a longer frontage than now and, under the street improvement scheme for the
market, this was cut back by several feet to allow for the steps which lead up
to Lich Gates from the side of St. Peter's House. So the frontage to these steps
must have been newly constructed in 1852. On the left hand side of the steps
stood the Exchange Building, or Corn Exchange, also newly built at that time".
An attractive building which is important to a scene which is as near as this
City gets to a Cathedral close.
|
