Summary

A building of possible early- to mid-eighteenth century date with a later re-fronting; it has been extended in several phases during the nineteenth century.

Description

A building of possible early- to mid-C18 date with a later re-fronting; it has been extended in several phases during the C19. The shopfront dates to the late C20 or early C21.

MATERIALS: possibly partly timber-framed, with tile hanging to the east flank elevation and a front elevation appearing of painted brick but possibly of mathematical tiles. The C19 additions are brick. The roofs are clay tile and windows are timber.

PLAN: the building was probably originally one room wide and two or three rooms deep, it has now been opened up internally including into the two linear C19 additions to the rear (except on the second floor where some room division remains). A stair between ground and first floors is within the last of the C19 additions and access to the second floor is via a stair in 39 High Street. First-floor WCs are in a small, probably C19, addition accessed jointly between 40 and 39 High Street.

A partially covered passageway runs alongside the building, between it and 41 High Street. The first and second floor façade of number 40 screens the gap between the two addresses.

EXTERIOR: the building is three storeys high and the frontage three bays wide (the left-hand bay being a screen over the passageway) with a parapet and hipped roof behind. First floor windows are sliding sashes without glazing bars and second floor windows are shorter sliding sashes with a three-over-six arrangement. At street level is an altered late-C20 or early-C21 shopfront with recessed central entrance and to the left a solid door which closes off the passageway from the high street.

The east flank elevation, visible from within the passageway, is of hung clay tiles to the frontage building and of brick to the C19 additions. There is irregular fenestration of sliding sashes and casements with segmental heads. There is evidence in the brickwork of a number of blocked openings, including what were probably first- and second-floor taking-in doors.

INTERIORS: the interiors are generally lined out with modern finishes although there is fragmentary survival of some C19 joinery on the second floor. Openings in the party wall on the first and second floors connect 40 with 39 High Street. The C19 additions to the rear were probably built as storerooms or workshops and retain something of their early character at second floor level, with walls of painted brick and a steep timber stair leading to an attic store over the earlier of the two extensions.

History

40 High Street is possibly of early- to mid-C18 date with a later re-fronting; it was subsequently extended to the rear in several phases during the C19.

The building was in joint retail occupation with its neighbour to the west, 39 High Street, for almost 100 years from at least 1879 to 1960. The two addresses were occupied by H J Goulden Ltd, a stationer, bookseller and manufacturer of pianofortes, first established by Charles Goulden in Canterbury in 1840. 40 High Street was in the Goulden family from 1867, with 39 High Street acquired by 1879 and serving as the firm’s piano showroom. In addition to printing and bookbinding, the business owned various Kent newspapers, including the Kentish Gazette until 1905. Novelist Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was a customer, the company printing some of his works and supplying him with stationery. The business closed in 1960.

In the second half of the C20 the two addresses were occupied independently and jointly by various businesses. The ground floors of the buildings are currently occupied (2025) as separate commercial units but remain interconnected on the first and second floors.

Reasons for Listing

40 High Street, Canterbury is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an C18 building with later phases relating to its longstanding commercial and retail use;

Historic interest:

* as part of the urban development of Canterbury’s ancient core;

Group value:

* as one of many buildings, some listed at a high grade, which contribute to Canterbury’s rich, historic commercial streetscape.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)