| Summary : A pair of half-timbered buildings of 1857 designed by T M Penson, his first substantial work in the Vernacular Revival. They were built for Charles and William Brown, but did not become part of the department store until 1912. Before this, No. 38 was leased to Bollands, wedding cake makers by appointment to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. The timber framing, which is applied to a brick structure, is unscholarly and idiosyncratic, with richly carved bargeboards, finials and colonnettes. At Row + 1 level within No. 36 there is a two-storey high barrel-vaulted space with ironwork skylights. The steps up to Row level have been removed, and an elaborately carved mid-Victorian shopfront was lost when the Grosvenor Precinct was built. |