Building record 1160/0/419 - 72 St Michael's Road, Northampton

Three-storey T-plan factory built in the late 1880s. Unusual architectural features for a boot and shoe factory, possible it has other leather trade origins.

{1} Three-storey T-plan factory, fronting St Michael's Road to the north, built in the late 1880s. In the following decade it seems to have been the works of George Weed & Sons, boot and shoe manufacturers. Possibly in dual occupancy with No. 70. However, the tall windows on the first floor, the asymmetrically pitched roof of the street range, and a large stack on the east gable, are all unusual on purpose-built shoe factories, and it is possible that the building has other leather trades origins.
The St Michael's Road elevation of this factory has three storeys and eight bays. To its rear is a four-bay, two-storey range. Both ranges are of pier-and-panel constrcution in red brick. The St Michael's Road elevation conforms to the familiar plan for small factories with the office entrance in an end bay (the east). Taking-in doors are provided in the west end bay on the first and second floors. The first floor has been re-fenestrated except for a cast-iron window frame in the bay next to the taking-in door; this is probably an example of the original fenestration for this floor, which has unusually tall windows. The second floor is entirely fenestrated with slightly smaller versions of this window frame. This elevation has a degree of architectural detail with a harder red brick used for the piers. Stone has been used for sills, sills bands, lintels, eaves bands and keystones in the ground and first-floor window heads.
The rear range appears to be contemporary with the St Michael's Road range but has simpler details with blue brick sills and piers in the same brick as the panels. A small two-storey extension in a more orange brick with a stepply pitched roof has been added to the rear of the St Michael's Road range at its east end. This extension has a single stack.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Northampton Site 42 (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> Historic England, Undated, 72 St. Michael's Road, Northampton, BF103476 (Archive). SNN115583.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:54PM