No 88 Dean Street dates from 1791. The first occupant was a Thomas Norman whose trade is not known: he was succeeded by ‘Widow Norman’ in 1792. The shop front is the one noteworthy feature of the building.
Twenty-seven decorative schemes were found by me on the fascia. The first scheme was a pale stone colour in an oil-based paint. Many stone- coloured paints follow this until a sequence of brownish red layers in the nineteenth century. The shop front seems to have been painted every eight years on average.
See a short slideshow of the work.
I have also sampled another couple of early shopfronts – 56 Artillery Lane and 58 Artillery Lane. The findings in all three cases was remarkably similar. A nineteenth century one in Scotland has also been analysed.
In 2011 the Dean Street project was Joint Winner of the Georgian Group Architectural Awards for the Restoration of a Georgian Building in an Urban Setting.
The BBC featured the restoration on the News and a clip can be seen HERE.
A film clip of a fire in Dean Street in 1935:
DEAN STREET BEDDING FACTORY BLAZE
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This is a fabulous page. Want to see every new addition.
How kind, Ann. I try and update my site regularly, so keep your eyes open.