Former 19th century house and legal offices at 4 The Broadway, Wickford (EHER 80089)

Demolished in August 2019. A two-storey 19th century brick-built building with gabled roof and two-storey canted bay window. Originally constructed as a dwelling and later reused as legal offices, the building retained some original fixtures and fittings. It had ground floor access to both 2 and 4 The Broadway.

March 2019. Level 1 building recording. 4 The Broadway is a two-storey building, originally constructed between 1896 and 1922 as a house. Aligned NW-SE, the building is made of red brick with a clay-tiled roof which is gabled to the NW and SE and has painted timber bargeboards. A two-storey canted bay window, beneath its own small tiled roof, faces The Broadway. The building retains its original timber sash windows, a single external doorway to its NE elevation, accessed from the rear yard, and two brick chimneystacks. The single storey structure at 2 The Broadway is attached to its NE elevation, and a small flat roofed link on its SW elevation provides access to 6 The Broadway. Most recently, Nos. 2-8 The Broadway served as inter-connected offices of Brian Ruff, Angus& Jewers, solicitors, with No. 2 being the reception area. The building retains some original fixtures and fittings. The NW ground and first floor rooms, and the stair hall, are all furnished with moulded skirtings, picture rails and coved cornices. The ceilings are covered with anaglypta wallpaper, which is feasibly original, and at ground floor level could be seen to overlie lath and plaster. A cast iron fireplace insert remains in situ in the ground floor front room. The rooms to the rear are plainer. A large room at the SE end of the ground floor has a tall fireplace opening, probably for a range, and appears to have served as a kitchen. <1> August 2019. Demolition. The building was demolished in August 2019 in advance of the construction of a new Aldi supermarket on the adjacent land. <2>