Maive Salon

Terraced two-bay four-storey apartment building of c.1996, having commercial premises to ground floor with shopfront of possibly c.1900. Shopfront has engaged columns on plinth blocks with acanthus and lotus-leaf capitals supporting fluted corbel brackets with leaf, grape and wreath ornament, flanking fascia, surmounted by frieze flanked by triglyphs and moulded cornice. Square-headed plate-glass window having carved, decorative apron over moulded plinth. Lintel with cornice broken by floral festoon and surmounted by small dentillated pediment. Tripartite basket-headed window opening over with timber Ionic mullions. Square-headed door opening housing replacement timber and glazed door, flanked by carved husk ornament and having square plate-glass overlight. Original granite kerbing to front with engraved 'S' to one kerbstone.

This recently built structure is distinguished by the apparently Edwardian shopfront to its ground floor. It is one of four successive similar structures along Capel Street, an important thoroughfare laid out from c.1678 by Humphrey Jervis. The shopfront contributes to the streetscape and historically anchors the recent building to which it has been attached. Its acanthus and lotus leaf columns are ubiquitous throughout the city, but the use here in conjunction with wreaths, pediments, and grape and husk ornament creates an innovative design which at once hearkens back to local heritage while also forming a thoroughly Edwardian appearance. Capel Street was laid out from c.1678 by Humphrey Jervis to link the Essex Bridge to the Great North Road.