SNN111371 - Building recording and analysis of the former Vulcan Works, 34-36 Guildhall Road, 4-6 Angel Street and Northampton Borough Museum's Fetter Street Stores, 2015

Building Recording has shown that the shell of the Grade II-listed Victorian Vulcan works is relatively intact, with later additions, although interior detail is largely absent. Other than the Guildhall Road frontage, which is architecturally notable, most of the buildings are functional and lack architectural merit. Historical maps and other documents, including deeds, show the rapid development of the core buildings from c1875, with a number of regular expansions from around the First World War until just after the Second World War. Uses of individual buildings are glimpsed occasionally but consistently, as are a succession of tenancies, including periods of vacancy. Alongside the Vulcan Works, the former Weights and Measures Office and attached accommodation on Angel Street is a notable architectural quirk of 1903-5, containing numerous structural and aesthetic plays on the idea of balance and imbalance, related to the original use of the building. There is opportunity for further targeted recording, principally in regards to Industrial Archaeology at the Vulcan Works, if the site is redeveloped.