Building record 1966/25/1 - 9 Alexandra Street

Sunhill Works, Alexandra Street. This large three-storey boot and shoe workshop is a later addition at the rear of 9 Alexandra Street a two-storey house with an attached workshop. The house and workshop were built in the latter part of the 19th century and the three-storey workshop was added before 1924.

{1} Sunhill Works, Alexandra Street. Large three storey, six bay factory to the rear of a house on Alexandra Street (pre 1900) with a one or two storey extension to the rear. The building used to house Albert E Fox and Co Limited - Boot heel manufactures, leather merchants and leather factors. It was not possible to properly assess the property as it is on private land, but the building did not appear to be fully utilised.

{2} Three storey, six bay factory with crittel windows. The building is physically attached to the rear of No. 9. The arrangement at the rear of the house involves a ground floor storage area for the house with a first floor office area for the factory above. There is no internal connecting access between the factory and the house. The factory is on three floors and there was no evidence of the individual use of each of the floors. Access is via a staircase to the west of the building; there is also a cast iron staircase to the exterior on the south face. The office accommodation was located between the ground and first floors. The office had a small fireplace on the north west wall. There is a small hatch half way up the wall connecting with the factory - this may have been used to provide views onto the factory floor (with the use of mirror). To the rear of the factory was a large single storey extension - this was in the process of demolition during the site visit. Plans of the building indicate that there was a large workshop area with lockers, toilets and a boiler to the east end.

{5} This site consists of a detached two-storeyed house to the rear of which there is a three-storeyed factory served by a narrow yard along the south side of the plot. The earliest occupiers of the factory, which was built before 1899, may have been boot and shoe manufacturers. By the 1920s the building combined the functions of heel factory and leather warehouse. The house, presumably the home of the proprietor, is slightly taller and more ornate than its neighbours. It has a one-and-a-half-bay west front, and detailing in ashlar, moulded brick and cogged brick. The roof has been renewed in concrete tiles. A rear range extends as far as the factory. The western part is domestic in function, but the eastern half incorporates a partly jettied first floor with a four-light window suggesting workshop use. On the ground floor of this section there is a wide entrance of industrial character. It was not apparent whether this range communicated directly with the factory; on the first floor the difference in levels would seem to make this unlikely. The three-storeyed factory is five bays long, with segmental window heads and a plain projecting eaves. Blue brick is used for the window sills and the window frames are of cast iron with pivoting central opening sections. The entrance is placed in the westernmost bay beneath loading doorways on the first and second floors, the latter blocked to create a washroom but retaining an iron crane externally. There is no external indication of an office, which may have been provided within the house or the linking range. Between 1899 and 1924 (on map evidence) the factory was extended eastwards to the plot boundary, the addition being single-storeyed and occupying the whole width of the plot.

Description from record 1966/25:
{1} Albert E Fox and Co Limited, boot heel manufactures, leather merchants and leather factors.

{2} History:
1884 Not depicted (OS 1st ed.)
1899 House, rear range & factory all shown (OS 2nd ed.)
1922 Albert E. Fox & Co. Ltd. boot heel mfrs, leather merchants & factors & leather offal merchants, Sunhill Works
1924 ‘Sunhill Works’ (OS 1:2500)
1937 Fox Bros, cut-sole mfrs & grindery merchants, Alexandra St
1940 Fox Bros, leather factors, no address
1970 ‘Works’; little-altered on plan since 1924 (OS 1:2500)
1999 Factory vacant

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Industrial Period, (checked) (Digital archive). SNN4.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Industrial Period, (checked) (Digital archive). SNN4.

<2> Ballinger J., 2000, Factory To The Rear Of Alexandra Road, Burton Latimer, (checked) (Report). SNN100686.

< 2> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Burton Latimer site 4 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<3> Designworks, 2000, Factory conversion at 9 Alexandra Street, Burton Latimer, (checked) (Plan). SNN106339.

<4> Ballinger J., 2000, Factory To The Rear Of 9 Alexandra Road, Burton Latimer, (unchecked) (Photographic prints (COL)). SNN100687.

<5> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Burton Latimer site 4 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<6> Designworks, 2000, Factory conversion at 9 Alexandra Street, Burton Latimer, existing elevations/section (Plan). SNN110279.

<7> Historic England, Undated, 9 Alexandra Street, Burton Latimer, BF103779 (Archive). SNN114292.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2022 1:59PM