house

Corner-sited two-bay three-storey former house, built c. 1725, remodelled c. 1890 and fully abutted to rear and sides. Now in commercial use and having recent timber shopfront wrapping around to both street elevations. M-profile hipped slate roof hidden by stepped brick parapet with stone coping. Ogee-profile cast-iron gutters to side elevation on corbels. Stepped brick chimneystack shared with adjoining building. Flemish bond machine-made red brick walling, with lighter coloured bricks to corner having bowtelll-moulding, returning as quoins to painted ruled-and-lined rendered east elevation. Segmental-headed window openings to front elevation with stepped and rebated gauged brick surrounds, voussoirs over inset reveal, and flush chamfered concrete sills; replacement timber side-hung casement windows; painted metal balconies to first floor and window-guards to second floor. Square-headed window openings to east elevation with plain reveals, projecting painted masonry sills and variety of timber sliding sash windows, with enlarged vertical double-height strip window to south end.

Although the current appearance of No. 20 Duke Street is fully characterized by late nineteenth-century materials and detailing, the building has much earlier origins, dating from the original laying out of Duke Street in the early eighteenth century. The building is therefore representative of the continuous alteration and development of the street, with commercial uses gradually eclipsing the original residential character in the course of the nineteenth century. Diminutive proportions and the large chimneystack are indicative of its early typology and, together with No. 21, the building provides important historical and architectural context in Duke Street.