Listed Building: Crockett and Jones, Perry Street (1391018)

Boot and shoe factory. 1889-90. By Charles Dorman for Crockett and Jones. Extension of 1896 by Alexander E. Anderson. Large addition of 1910 by Brown and Mayor. Further addition 1935 by F. H. Allen. Rectangular plan bounded by Perry Street, Magee Street and Turner Street, the latter front longer. Magee Street front of 1889-90. 2 Storeys, part with attic. Red brick with stone dressings and hipped slate roofs. Central section with 5-window range at first floor of sash windows. 3 similar windows above in attic with curving volutes to sides and stone pediment over. ‘Crockett and Jones’ inscribed in wide stone frieze below sill level. 4 wooden mullion and transom windows to ground floor with blocked doorway in stone doorcase to right, now a window. To either side of this frontispiece a 2-storey block, 5 windows to left and 4 to right. These continue round the corners with 4 window ranges. Beyond, in Turner Street, is the front of a 2-storey range added in 1896 which originally continued its way across the back to Perry Street. The Turner Street front has 8 large multi-paned windows to ground floor set in 4 tall otherwise blind arches, as the 1st floor is top-lit by a skylight covering almost the whole of the north roof slope. Beyond is the 1910 block, probably the 1st steel-framed building in Northampton, and an impressive structure. 4 storeys and basement with flat roof. 7 bays of continuous multi-paned glazing with narrow brick piers rising to wide bracketed eaves and bands of walling below the sills. The narrower side elevations are similar. On Perry Street, to the right of the corner block, is the addition of 1935 which is of 3 storeys, 8 windows wide, of again almost continuous multi-paned glazing with brick walling. Similar windows to narrower ends. To the far left is the present principal office entrance which has a stripped classical doorcase with narrow windows to the side, double doors and decorative overlight, and a console as the keyblock. Probably the original light fittings above the windows. INTERIOR. The interior retains workshops in the Perry Street range as well as in the Turner Street and Magee Street ranges. In the latter, work-benches, etc., are ranged by the windows. HISTORY. The internationally known firm of Crockett and Jones was founded in 1879 and is first noted as being here in 1890. The firm rapidly expanded, the Turner Street block of 1910 being an interesting vertical equivalent of north light sheds since it faces north but uses much less ground space. By this means the firm minimised the demolition of existing houses on the site and also kept its employee base close at hand rather than moving away from the original site. SOURCES. EH Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site Report No. 91. Morrison, Kathryn A., with Bond, Ann, ‘Built to Last? The Boot and Shoe Buildings of Northamptonshire’, forthcoming, Pp. 1, 18-19 and figs.6. and 39. This is a very fine example of a boot and shoe factory which has evolved and expanded over more than a hundred years and demonstrates up-to-date provision when new buildings were constructed.

Record last edited

Nov 1 2023 12:32PM