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STREET ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 SERIES OF SHOP FRONTS AND FAGADES, 
 
 Characteristic of and Adapted to 
 
 DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF COMMERCE, 
 
 VICTOR DELASSAUX AND JOHN ELLIOTT, 
 
 ARCHITECTS. 
 
 ENGRAVED ON STEEL BY PHILIP BRANNON. 
 
 1855. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN WEALE, HOLBORN. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 One of the natural results of the great Exhibition of 1851 has been the impetus it has given to 
 the Art of Decoration. Whether this movement he due to the feeling of uneasiness excited by the 
 conviction of our own deficiencies, and the remarks of our foreign visitors on. the poverty of our public 
 buildings, and the bad taste of our street architecture; or to the spirit of emulation excited in us by 
 the sight of the many works of genius exhibited by our Continental neighbours, certain it is, that a 
 marked improvement is taking place generally in the decorative arts, in which Architecture, in its 
 
 application to trading purposes, participates. 
 
 If we are rightly informed, a Society, to which the members of our profession owe much, has 
 for some time past directed its attention to the possibility of effecting, by legislative enactments, the 
 
 improvement of our towns, in an artistical as well as sanitary point of view. 
 
 It is a difficult question where and when to apply with advantage the curb or the spur to 
 individual responsibility. In sanitary matters and those relating to public convenience, it is clearly the 
 
 duty of Government to restrain, but in matters of taste, it will be better only to stimulate. 
 
 In this Country, at all events, the reform of Street Architecture must be left to individual 
 efforts; the improvement therefore of each man’s taste becomes the only rational course to pursue. 
 But as neither good nor evil deeds ever stand alone in their results, it is some consolation to know, 
 that the sanitary improvements which the Government are enforcing, the widening and straightening 
 of our Streets, and the opening of new ones, will necessarily create a demand for Architectural 
 
 improvement. 
 
 Our Manufacturers are beginning at last to discover that good taste adds wonderfully to the 
 money value of their productions; and our traders who, in defiance of the old motto, “that good wine 
 
 needs no bush,” have long acted on the policy of attracting public notice to the goods within by 
 lavish expenditure on the exteriors of their establishments, must see the wisdom of securing the 
 
 highest order of talent to direct their outlay. 
 
 Believing that the time is come, when a new era in Street Architecture may be expected, 
 we offer our work asa contribution in aid of the movement; should it be fortunate enough to meet 
 with favour from the public and approbation from our friends, it is our intention to follow up our 
 
 first essay, by another of more extensive scope. 
 
We shall feel however that our labour will not have been in vain, even should it have no other 
 result, than that of exciting some of our more eminent professional brethren to contribute to the end 
 
 we have in view, by bringing out works of their own on this really important branch of Art. 
 
 Tt may not at first sight appear a very dignified employment for the heads of the profession, 
 to use their talents in designing shop fronts and street fagades, but in reality, few classes of subjects 
 afford such scope for inventive genius, and none where its efforts would be more appreciated, or 
 
 exercise so favourable an influence on the taste of the multitude. 
 
 We have endeavoured, as far as possible, to give to each shop front or fagade that peculiar 
 character which each particular trade requires, and however incomplete the results of our efforts 
 
 may be, we trust that in them, some hints both new and useful will be found. 
 
 | VICTOR DELASSAUX. 
 JOHN ELLIOTT. 
 
 March, 1855. 
 
LIST OF PLATES 
 
 OF DESIGNS FOR STREET FRONTS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE EXPLANATORY 
 LETTER-PRESS. 
 
 PLATE EXPLANATORY REMARKS, SEE PAGE 
 1 Title Page : - - - - 
 
 Preface - : 2 2 3 
 
 2 Butcher’s Shop : ° , F r 7 
 3 Poulterer and Bird Fancier - - : : ib 
 4 Publishing Bookseller’s Shop - > 2 2 ib 
 Introductory Remarks on Designs in Domestic Gothic - 8 
 
 5 Grocer’s Shop - 2 E E : 9 
 6 . Hosier and Outfitter’s Shop ae 2 E - ib 
 7 Boot and Shoemaker’s Warehouse - > : ib 
 8 Jeweller’s Shop - - = ‘ : 10 
 9 Chemist and Druggist’s Shop - - - s ib 
 10 Upholsterer’s Establishment - - : 2 ib 
 11 Nurseryman, Florist, and Seedsman’s Shop and Greenhouse - - i. 
 12 Publishing Printseller’s Shop, Showroom, and House ° - ib 
 13 Retail Bookseller’s Shop - 5 é = E ib 
 14 lLaceman’s Shop and House = : £ : 12 
 15 Paper Hanger’s Warehouse > 2 - 2 ib 
 16 Ironmonger and Brazier’s Warehouse - - : : 12 
 17 Hotel and Assembly Rooms - - cs f ib 
 18 Wholesale and Retail Drapery Establishment - - - 14 
 19 Wine and Spirit Warehouse ° - = ib 
 20 Private House - - - é és, ib 
 21 Details - 2 @ = - - 15 
 22 Details - - - - : ci ib 
 
 Conclusion. General Observations - - - 16 
 
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 NUMBER 2. BUTCHER. 
 
 This Shop may be constructed either in stone or wood; in the former case, the enrichments 
 
 should be carved, in the latter painted in. The shutters to be only as high as the iron impost, above 
 
 which line it is to be open for ventilation. The pillars for light to be made to unscrew at will- 
 
 NUMBER 3. POULTERER AND BIRD FANCIER. 
 
 The rustic style is considered the most suitable for such a business. The two sides are 
 intended to project three feet so as to permit the formation of two compartments or cages for the 
 reception of living animals. The shutters to be as high as the spring of the arch. 
 
 The construction should be in oak and white wood, varnished go as to preserve their natural 
 
 colours; using oak for the framework and white wood for the panels and filling in. 
 
 NUMBER 4. PUBLISHING BOOKSELLER. 
 
 This shop is intended for a bookseller and publisher of scientific and high class literary works. 
 It is supposed to be situated in a street where private dwellings are chiefly to be found and where 
 consequently areas exist. The facade and balustrade should be in stone or cement, the door in 
 varnished oak. The letters to be sunk and painted red, except over the door, where the label should 
 
 be in marble (or imitation) and the engraved letters laid in with gold. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON DESIGNS IN DOMESTIC GOTHIC. 
 NUMBERS 5, 6, & 7. 
 
 The employment of small stones as the chief means of construction, may almost be said to have 
 originated the Ecclesiastical Gothic. The peculiarities of Street Architecture during the middle ages, 
 in the timber districts, may in like manner be ascribed mainly to the extensive employment of that 
 material. Although the alliance to the Gothic is maintained, and the precedence in point of time 
 
 in in stone 
 
 of the ecclesiastical superior, and to be seen in many details which had their ori 
 construction, we yet find the general ornamentation peculiarly adapted to the nature of wood; and 
 
 so distinct is the style thus impressed on these structures, that they almost acquire the right to a 
 
 separate nomenclature in the History of Art. 
 
 It is a great law of Nature, that beauty and utility should be inseparable: the Architects of 
 all original styles fulfilled this great law by constructing a working skeleton first, and then adding 
 ornament to beautify it. 
 
 The Street Architects of the middle ages had to build with beams of timber; some they 
 
 placed upright, others across them; out of these simple materials, they produced the most beautiful 
 
 effects, by the simplest means; to get depth of shadow they brought out beam over beam, carrying the 
 
 projecting timbers by cutting the upper portion of the posts, to avoid heaviness, into brackets; for 
 
 ornament they carved the angles of the beams and supporting posts in endless variety of mouldings 
 
 and appropriate carving 
 
 not a single stuck-on ornament is to be found in their works, in which only 
 
 decorated utility can be discovered. 
 
 The many admirable examples still existing at home and abroad, furnish inexhaustible 
 
 stores of hints for use. In des 
 
 5, 6, and 7, we have endeavoured to shew how readily 
 
 this style admits of application to Street Architecture, and how well adapted undisguised timber 
 
 construction is, for all the requirements of modern shop fronts. 
 
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NUMBER 5. GROCER AND TEA DEALER. 
 This class of business does not require any great extent of height or breadth in frontage. 
 The goods exhibited being few in number and generally placed below the eye. The material for 
 the construction of this design must be timber. It should be built with solid posts and cross beams, 
 carved out to the form shewn; where cheapness is a main consideration, the carpenter will doubtless 
 get the effect, by framing together boards of the required thickness. The projecting beam under the 
 
 cornice allows of the shop blind being placed behind it, out of sight when rolled up. 
 
 The timber employed should be Oak or its imitation. It will add much to the effect, if the 
 
 mouldings of the foliations, and the bands of the carved arrises be gilt. 
 
 NUMBER 6. HOSIER AND OUTFITTER. 
 
 The linen drapery business varies so muclt in character as to require for itself a distinct series 
 
 of designs. 
 
 That branch of the business for which this shop is intended, requires but little external 
 
 display; Stockings, Shirts, Gloves, and Hats not being sufficiently attractive to bear exhibiting in 
 
 extenso. One entrance we will suppose dedicated to the hat department, the other to general business. 
 
 The observations as to the construction of the former design, will also apply to the one under 
 
 consideration. 
 
 NUMBER 7. BOOT AND SHOE MAKER. 
 
 The taste of the gentlemen following this profession is so decidedly classical, as evidenced 
 by the Greek names given to all their inventions in leather, that it ought perhaps to have induced us 
 to design & la Grecque, but the recollection that wooden shoes preceded calf, decided the question in 
 favour of timber. 
 
 The business in question, which we will suppose to be “ 
 
 wholesale and retail,” “ready made 
 and to measure;” admits of division in the frontage, as boots, shoes, ‘‘Antigropelos” and ‘ Euknemidas,” 
 
 are generally exhibited in groups. 
 
NUMBER 8. JEWELLER. 
 
 This front ought to be made of dark Chesnut or Ebony polished (or the imitations of these 
 | woods) with a few of the mouldings gilt. The portrait of the Queen to be in imitation of white 
 marble on an azure ground; the Crown to be gilt, as also the ornaments in the pendentives. 
 
 The enrichments of the door may be in bronze, relieved with gilding. Ina shop of this 
 description, the effect of the rich goods within, would be injured by too much luxury in 
 ornament without; dark polished wood slightly relieved by gilding, sets jewellery off to the best 
 
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 NUMBER 9. CHEMIST. 
 This shop, supposed to have an area before it, should be built of wood. The portico, 
 extending over the area, to be in stone or cement. If required for a situation without an area, the 
 frontispiece of the portico could be executed in wood, with a projection of a few inches, and the 
 
 lantern carried forward, supported by brackets. 4 
 
 NUMBER 10. UPHOL 
 
 ERER. 
 
 The display of furniture requires length rather than height in the front. In this design 
 polished mahogany would be the best material to employ. The lower plinth should be in stone, and 
 made to project one or two feet, with a low balustrade of iron on it as a protection: this is not 
 shown in the elevation, in order not to overload the drawing. The vases and ornaments decorating 
 the pilasters and entablature, as also the railing, may be in metal or imitation. 
 
 Iron revolving shutters would be the best means of closing the shop, but wooden shutters 
 
 could be used. 
 
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 NUMBER 11. SEEDSMAN. 
 
 We have divided this design into two distinct parts; the lower and solid portion to be 
 appropriated for the sale of seeds and grain; the upper story is intended for the culture and 
 exhibition of plants and flowers: one of the doors leads to the plant show room, the other gives 
 entrance to the lower shop; from which a circular staircase communicates with the upper apartment. 
 
 We have supposed this shop to be built in advance of the dwelling house, which will receive 
 
 part of its light through the shop and conservatory. 
 
 NUMBER 12. PUBLISHING PRINTSELLER. 
 
 This fagade is intended to have two staircases, one for business visitors and workmen, the 
 other for private use. The first story is reserved for the family; the ground floor, on which is the 
 shop or show room, and the second story, where the Engravers and Printers are located, being 
 
 dedicated to business purposes. 
 
 NUMBER 13. RETAIL BOOKSELLER. 
 
 The business of a Bookseller and Stationer is one requiring some exterior show, but the front 
 should not depart too widely from the character of a private window. 
 
 The construction of this design is intended to be in wood; the shutters to have panels 
 corresponding with those under the stall board. 
 
 The painting should be a cream white, with the sunk panels a light grey. 
 
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 NUMBER 14. LACEMAN. 
 
 This design is suitable for a light trade and for execution in a street where the ground is so 
 
 valuable as to necessitate its divison into narrow lots, as in the Strand or Oxford Street. 
 The shop front may be either in wood or iron, the house facade in stone or cement. 
 In so narrow a front, a private entrance is inadmissable; the staircase to the private 
 
 apartments must therefore be behind the shop. 
 
 NUMBER 15. PAPER HANGER AND DECORATOR. 
 
 gn, the nature of the business supposed 
 
 We have indulged in some richness of style in this d 
 to be carried on requiring such treatment. Considerable height is given that purchasers may be 
 enabled to judge of the effect of papers when hung. At the sides of the shop behind the outer 
 piers made wide for this purpose will be the ranges of shelves for deposit of paper rolls. 
 
 An interior gallery, sufficiently indicated in the exterior facade, will give access to the upper 
 
 tiers of store shelves, where will be deposited the old stock and match papers. This gallery which 
 
 will be narrow and light will in no way injure the interior effect. 
 
 The richness of decoration may be modified by omitting, for instance, the niches and statues 
 
 and simply crowning the columns with vs and also substituting for the figures supporting the 
 
 Arms of England, their heraldic supporters. 
 
 The whole of this design may be executed in wood carved, or the crowning cornice and the 
 
 flanking piers may be done in cement. 
 
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 NUMBER 16. IRONMONGER AND BRAZIER. 
 
 A little extra expense in the fagade will not be thrown away in this business, the front 
 affording the best opportunity of shewing what the proprietor can effect with the material in which 
 he deals. 
 
 The house front we will suppose of stone or its imitation, and the door jambs of stone; the 
 balcony platform of oak; all the rest of the construction will then be in iron. It is all capable of 
 execution in cast iron, which will be the cheapest mode, but it would be far preferable to form the 
 balcony and stall board railings in wrought iron. The shop may either be closed by patent hinged 
 iron shutters sliding in grooves behind the pillars, or by lifting shutters of wood. 
 
 The iron work generally should be bronzed, with the mouldings and enrichments burnished or 
 gilt. The running enrichment in the hollow under beam, would look well in lacquered brass. The 
 supporting pillars and the moulding springing from them, might be painted deep blue, and the bands 
 
 gilt. The stall board splay should be of burnished brass. 
 
 NUMBER 17. LONDON TAVERN. 
 
 The title we have given to this design has simply for its object to indicate, that in 
 addition to its use as a club house and hotel, it is intended as a place for holding public meetings; 
 a kind of structure much in request in large cities. 
 
 The surbasement is exclusively devoted to offices, lighted from the terrace above, and the 
 carriage entrance. The side doors are for domestic and ordinary use. 
 
 The centre, in its exterior design, sufficiently indicates the grand hall or banquetting room 
 
 within. The large wings of the first story shew the dining rooms. 
 
 The second story is devoted to private apartments. The attic is occupied by servants’ 
 chambers. 
 
 The front should be executed in stone or Roman cement. 
 
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 NUMBER 18. DRAPER. 
 
 This shop may be executed either in cement or wood, but in all cases the intermediate parts 
 should be of the latter material, painted and the fillets and details gilt. 
 
 The side doors are for the private house and the offices. The central entrance affords a covered 
 shelter in entering or leaving the shop. In such an establishment, inner galleries will be required to 
 give access to the extensive stock piled up to the lofty ceiling; the position of these galleries is 
 marked in the design, which is so arranged as to admit of the exterior and interior decorations being 
 
 in harmony with each other. 
 
 NUMBER 19. WINE AND SPIRIT WAREHOUSE. 
 
 This fagade requires but little explanation. The arrangements of such a place are so well 
 known and so usually carried out in the same way, that we have only decorated after our own fashion, 
 the plans generally adopted. A corner of a street, an entrance for the jug department and one for 
 private use, with considerable height for Brobdignag barrels, bright colouring and coloured glass to 
 
 attract by gas light, comprise the chief requirements of a modern Spirit Warehouse. 
 
 NUMBER 20. PRIVATE HOUSE. 
 
 We will suppose this mansion to be situated in an aristocratic part of the town. It should be 
 detached if possible in order to preserve the profiles and shadows. The portico is advanced to the 
 outer balustrading in order to afford all the protection possible to visitors. The marquee crowning 
 the balcony of the first story is to have the same projection. The balconies on the ground floor are 
 intended for flowers. 
 
 Through the balustrade access can be obtained to the underground kitchen. 
 
 The construction to be of stone, or in case that cannot be afforded, the front may be cemented. 
 
NUMBER 21. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 4, Publishing Bookseller’s Shop. 
 Fig. 1, Elevation and plan of octagonal bracket, supporting Cornice. 
 Details of Plate, No. 8, Jeweller’s Shop. 
 Fig. 4, Vase, crowning side pier. Figs. 5 & 6, Front and side elevations and section of 
 console, supporting cornice. 
 Fig. 7, Elevation of entrance doorway. 
 
 Fig. 8, Window guard. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 14, Laceman’s Shop. 
 
 Fig. 9, Elevation of second floor window, with portion of the crowning cornice; the figure on 
 the centre column varies in sex and character from that in the plate, and there is a slight alteration 
 in the architrave and capitals of the pilasters. 
 
 Fig. 10, Pilaster, forming one of the outer piers. 
 
 The style of the above details and those in plate 22 as far as Fig. 5, is Renaisance in character. 
 This style offers many advantages for shop fronts, and street decorations; it is not so strictly 
 bounded by rules, as either the Gothic or Classic styles, while it is free from the childish and unmeaning 
 
 rococo, of the style to which Louis Quatorze has given his name. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 15, Paper Hanger’s Warehouse. 
 
 Fig. 2, Pilaster Cap, of compartment over doorway. 
 Fig. 3, Vase, over centre of doorway. 
 
 See Plate 22, for other details of this design. 
 
 NUMBER 22. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 18, Wholesale and Retail Drapery Establishment. 
 Fig. 1, Section of centre cornice with side elevation of bracket under, over piers of side doors. 
 Fig. 2, Elevation and plan of centre cornice and bracket, over piers of main entrance. 
 Fig. 3, Elevation and plan of central compartment and pier, immediately over the Cornice 
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 and bracket shewn in Fig. 2. 
 
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 Details of Plate, No. 15, Paper Hanger’s Warehouse. 
 
 Fig. 4, Section through one of the outer piers. 
 
 5, Cap, base and sub-plinth, of oval column on outer pier. 
 
 See Plate 21 for other details of this design. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 6, Hosier and Outfitter’s Shop. 
 Fig. 6, Section through cornice, with side elevation of bracket and supporting post. 
 
 Detail of Plate, No. 5, Grocer’s Shop. 
 
 Fig 7, Section through cornice with side elevation of bracket and supporting post. 
 
 Details of Plate, No. 16, Ironmonger and Brazier’s Warehouse. 
 Fig. 8, Details of iron crockets and finials. 
 Fig. 9, Shews a variation in design, in which the construction has a greater relation to the 
 material employed and presents a bolder innovation on the usual “ architrave, frieze and cornice.” 
 The plan is applicable in either design. The iron shutters pass behind the outer framework 
 and will thus be well secured and easily constructed; the glass can be fixed, by a fillet serewed on 
 
 inside at the side of the upright. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 It is not probable that without some modification, our designs will be found exactly to meet 
 individual requirements, but that modification is easily effected and so long as the general 
 proportions and harmony of effect are preserved, it will be easy to add to or omit some of the details. 
 
 The cast shadows, which are put in by the usual rule, shew sufficiently the depth of the 
 projections. We have not submitted details for all the designs, as the drawings are on a scale large 
 enough to shew clearly the effect intended, and it seemed to us better to leave minor details to the 
 judgment of those who might be inclined to carry out our plans, and who would probably, in 
 
 order to diminish expence, avail themselves in many cases, of such casts and patterns of ornaments 
 
 as they might find ready made to their hands. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 Page 8, line 7, from the top, 
 
 Instead of ‘ superior and,’ read ‘superior and model.’ 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 PRINTED AT PHILIP BRANNON’S OFFICES, SOUTHAMPTON. 
 
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