Listed Building: Former GT Hawkins Factory (Part originally Hornby & West) (1390677)

Former boot and shoe factory, at present vacant. Built in several phases by 2 different companies and then finally amalgamated to form a single large factory. c.1875, extended later C19 - late 1880’s; 2 further ranges 1890’s. Early C20 alterations. Mainly red or polychrome brick with slate roofs and iron framed windows. Range on the corner of Overstone Road and St Michael’s Road c. 1875, originally Hornby & West factory. 3 storeys and basement. 7-window range to each road and 2 canted bays on the corner. Façade is characterised by decorative brickwork and massive piers between windows culminating in projecting heads to top floor windows forming frieze below dentil eaves cornice. Early extension to front on Overstone Road and 7-window extension on St Michael’s Road, probably of 1890’s. Range on Overstone Road and corner of Dunster Street: late 1880’s. G.T. Hawkins original factory: 3 higher storeys of mostly intact iron framed windows. 2 ornamental gables to Overstone Road front, and ornamental gable end to Dunster Street. Ornamental entrance on Overstone Road. First floor may have been mainly for clicking, second floor for finishing: there is a taking-in door in the middle of the Overstone Road front. Range on Dunster Street next to above, 1890’s, built as an extension to above. 3 storeys over basement. 9-window range in all of iron-framed windows and taking-in doors. The 1899 Goad plan indicates use as a warehouse and factory. Range on St Michael’s Road to east of original Hornby & West factory: 1890’s, for G.T. Hawkins. 4 high storeys over basement. 10-window range in all of wooden, mainly tripartite, windows with glazing bars. 2 facing gables are supported on tall pilaster strips. Entrance doorways and some round-arched windows on ground floor. HISTORY: Between 1912 and 1916 G.T. Hawkins acquired the former Hornby & West factory adjacent to their own and began a series of alterations designed to integrate the various elements of the site both on the ground and upper floors. In the Hawkins Overstone Road range a director’s room with panelling and a stair were introduced. An important and little-altered complex of buildings of this important period for the industry. Part of the most significant group of buildings of the boot and shoe industry in Northampton with the Globe Leather Works next door (q.v. p.39), the curriers in Dunster Street opposite (q.v. p.79) and the Trickers factory (see below) further down St Michael’s Road. REFERENCES: English Heritage Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Industry Report, 2000, pp.4, 35 & 39, and Site Report No.48. Goad Insurance plan 1899.

Record last edited

Oct 30 2023 3:21PM